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VALENTINE'S 

City of New York 
a guide book 



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WrrHS.X MAPS *«0 ONE Ht,.OKEn.ANnS,XTV.... 
PAGE PICTURES 



By 
Henry Collins Brown 

Editor of 
"Valentine's Manual of Old New York 



New York 

VALENTINE'S MANUAL, Inc. 

15 East 40th Stret 



Copyright 1920 

Henry Collins Brown 

New York 



MAR 24 1920 
©CU566165 



Press of The Chauncey Holt Company 
New York City 



THE INFORMATION CONTAINED 
IN THIS BOOK 

Page 
How to See the City Inexpensively 3 

Street Car Lines, Buses, Subway and Elevated Roads 4 

Sight Seeing Cars, .Sight Seeing Boats, Aeroplane Trips 

over the City, Seeing the City from Bus Tops 6-9 

What to See. Various trips suggested with routes 8 

AVomen Travelling Alone 9 

Hotels, Boarding Houses, Furnished Rooms, etc 11 

Special Hotels for Women and other information about 

Plotels in General 12 

The Frick Collection of Art 12 

The City Itself described in detail. Its Discovery, Rise and 

Progress 17-29 

We start a tour through New York beginning at the Custom 
House where the City began (1620) by the erection of 
Fort Amsterdam, and proceed uptown in accordance 

with its development 30 

The Battery. The Statue of Liberty. The Aquarium, Gov- 
ernors Island, Ellis Island, the Harbor and Shipping. 
The famous Landing Stage at the Battery. •Distin- 
guished visitors, from Lafaj-ette to Joffre and the 

Prince of Wales, received here 30-40 

West Street, the "Meal Ticket" of New York, and its enor- 
mous shipping 47 

Th-e Great Transatlantic Liners. The famous thousand- 
feet docks — the Chelsea Improvement — owned by the 
City 52-54 

Where the Dough Boys left for France, and returned. The 

great Government Docks at Hoboken 53 

East River Shipping and the great Fish Market at Fulton 

Street 55 

Huge Army Supply Base and the great Bush Terminal 

Docks in Brooklyn 53 

Old Broadway. The pride of New York and the Main Street 
in our Village. From the Custom House to Wall 
Street 61 

Bowling Green, the Standard Oil Building, the Steel Cor- 
poration's offices. Trinity Church and its famous Dead. 61-69 

III 



Pa. ere 
The First Skyscraper 70 

Out of the Ordinary Eating- Places 75_8i 

Cabarets, Tea-Dansants, etc 82 

Wall Street and the Financial District 84 

The Stock Market, the Cotton, Wheat and Produce Ex- 

''^^^Ses : S4_^20 

The Sub-Treasury. Where Washington was Inaugurated. 89 

Famous Banks and Bankers 9996 

Old Wall Street ''.'.'.' '.'.9e-^S 

Fraunce's Tavern, where Washington took -leave of his 

^ffl^^^^s .04_^Q7 

The famous "Curb" Market and others 108 

The Broad Street Hospital and Seaman's Institute 116 

Our Civic Centre, City Hall, Municipal Building, etc. . .122-132 
Woolworth Building, St. Paul's, Newspaper Row, The Post 
Office, Hall of Records. The famous City Prison called 

the Tombs 1*22-132 

Our Old City Hall and its historic possessions 134 

The Liberty Pole in City Hall in Revolutionary Days 145 

To be Erected Again as a War Memorial 147-151 

Broadway, North to 42nd Street 153 

Map showing the Region just described 155 

The Great East Side, Home of the Russians, Italians, 
Greeks, Swedes, Turks, Hunks, Bulgars, Austrians, Ar- 
menians, Slavs and Irish. Chinatown and the "Black 

Belt." The famous Ghetto 157-168 

The Bowery. Its Romance and History. Greatly changed. 169-174 
Old St. Mark's Church. Old time dives. Bull's Head Tav- 
ern. The old Bowery Theatre. Old Milestones. Cooper 
Union 171-174 

Roosevelt's Grave at Oyster Bay 177 

Big Ideas in Little Places. Original shops with original 
goods. Winifred Holt's "Lighthouse" and its wonder- 
ful basket-ware. The idea of personal service 178 

Greenwich Village— the Bohemian quarter of New York. 
Its short-haired women and long-haired men. One of 
our most talked-of possessions. Its quaintness, etc. 181 

From Chambers Street to 14th Street 185 

IV 



Page 
Another map showing the territory between Chambers 

Street and Greenwich Village 186 

From 14th Street to 59th. Chelsea Village, where the "Night 

Before Christmas" was written. St. Peter's Church... 187 

Jim Fiske, Ed Stokes and Josie Mansfield 188 

The Paulist Fathers. The Vanderbilt Clinic 1S9 

Gramercy Park and the Players Club 1 SI 

Where Roosevelt was born 191 

Fifth Avenue, the Pride of New York 193-265 

Parades on the Avenue during the Great War. Over. Sixty 
Views are shown, forming the most complete souvenir 
of these events yet gathered together in one article. 

Begins on page 194 

The famous Hippodrome Show House 258 

Bryant Park. "The Little Church Around the Corner." 
The Pageants of War on the Avenue. The Y. M. C. A., 
the Y. W. C. A., the K. of C, Jewish, Welfare, etc.. 261 

Armistice Day in Fifth Avenue 26.3 

Return of General Pershing and End of the War 264 

Madison Avenue, Murray Hill, Grand Central Terminal, 
Madison Square Garden and the Great Metropolitan 

Tower and Clock 265-269 

Forty- Second Street and the great Biltmore group of 

Hotels. Pershing Square and proposed Victory Hall. 270-276 

Map showing third section just visited 277 

The Great White Way. Theatres, Movies, Cabarets, Res- 
taurants and the Night Life 279-283 

Map of the fourth section 2S4 

Our Wonderful Public Parks. The Bronx, Van Cortlandt, 
Pelham Bay, Interstate, Bear Mountain, The Zoo, the 
Botanical Garden and the great Central Park beginning 



at 59th Street 



286 



The Upper West Side, Riverside Drive— The Hudson River 295 

Map of Upper Section of New York 303 

Washington's Headquarters, the Roger Morris House 304 

Pershing Square Hotel Group. Biltmore; Commodore, Bel- 
mont, Manhattan, New Murray Hill 305 

Map of City North from Columbia University 311 

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Morningside Heights, 

and the Residence of Bishop Burch 313 

V 



Columbia University — Page 

General View 314 

St. Paul's Chapel 315 

Low Library 317 

School of Mines 317 

College of the City of New York 319 

New York University Hall of Fame 319 

The Lewisohn Stadium 320 

Map of Fort Washington Section of New York 322 

Metropolitan Museum of Art 323 

The Hispanic Museum 325-326-330 

Museum of Natural History 326 

New York Historical Society 32S 

American Geographical Society 325 

American Indian Museum, Heye Foundation 325 

The Numismatic Society 325 

Our Wonderful Public Schools 334 

The well-known Polo Grounds where the Giants play 336 

Coney Island. On the Beach 33S 

Nearby attractions of Sea, Mountain and PJver reached in 

a day and return 340-342 

Where Prominent Persons Live — Who's Who in New 

York 346-350 

John McE. Bowman of the famous Pershing Square Hotel 

Group 371 

Our Big Money Institutions. Enormous Banking. Power 

of New York "353 

Curious Book — Valentine's Manual — About old New York. 353 

Interesting Details About the Great City 356 

Some simple Don'ts for Travellers 359 

Map of the end of the City at In wood Heights 361 

General Information 362 

Principal Theatres, etc 3G4 

Brooklyn and other Boroughs 367 



BESIDES 
over ONE HUNDRED and SIXTY Views of the City covering every 
section and made recently for this Guide. 

VI 



FOREWORD 

**I PRAY YOU LET US SATISFY OUR EYES 

WITH THE MEMORIALS AND THE THINGS OF FAME 

THAT DO RENOWN THIS CITY." 

Shakespeare. 

A/TANY, many years ago our city. rejoiced in a series 
of Guide Books of exquisite taste and scholarly 
attainment. For even in those days travellers from far- 
away lands were constantly within her hospitable gates. 
She was the belle of the New World and her admirers 
were legion. "New York is a beautiful city/' writes 
one, "and the grateful shade of the trees on Broadway 
is delightful." 

Some of these books had dainty little steel engravings 
portraying our principal buildings — City Hall, The Bat- 
tery, Castle Garden, etc., and were generally written by 
"A Gentleman Residing in the City." Though small in 
size they were bravely finished with cloth covers and 
gilt tops. Today these diminutive volumes are the idol 
of the collector and the despair of the dealer. 

As a lover of New York it has seemed to me that 
something in the line of these half-forgotten Guide 
Books was due this old city of ours. 

The little homes of red brick and dormer windows 
have long ago disappeared. The days of lavender and 
old lace seem never to have been, in this city of Sub- 

VII 



ways and Skyscrapers. Perhaps a Guide Book should 
be all figures and numbers and maps. Yet I fain would 
revive the loving personal touch of "the gentleman who 
resided in the city." How successful the attempt is, 
courteous reader, I shall leave you to decide. 

A work of this kind is naturally the product of many 
minds. I have occasionally quoted from fugitive items 
in our daily papers, notably the Sun, World, Evening 
Post, Evening Sun and Tribune. My lecture on Old 
New York has also been drawn upon. If I have failed 
in every instance to credit the source of information I 
do so of necessity, and cheerfully make this acknowledg- 
ment. The City History Club; Mr. A. J. Wall, the 
learned assistant librarian of the New York Historical 
Society, and Mr. Sturges S. Dunham, a member of the 
bar, are entitled to special mention. 

Corrections and additions to this Guide are cordially 
invited. A perfect Guide is the product of evolution and 
cannot be made at the first attempt ; and its improvement 
to a great extent lies in the cooperation of the public. 

The Author. 



VIII 




The very first view of New York ever shown to the world. 
Courtesy N. Y. Historical Society. 



About 1642. 



How TO See the City Inexpensively 



npHERE is no other city in the world in which it is 
■■■ so easy to get around^ as New York. If you will get 
the points of the compass fixed in your mind at the 
start, it will help you greatly. Standing in front of 
the Library on Fifth i\venue, at 42nd Street, and looking 
toward Madison Square you face South; your back is to 
the North. On your right is West, and on the left is 
East. Traffic police are stationed at congested points. 
Stop until they signal you to cross. The ninety-four on 
horseback and the five hundred and nineteen on foot are 
out in all weathers, quick to see the movements of every 
kind of vehicle and alert to adjust every condition that 
arises to facilitate the travel of foot passengers as well 
as the saving of time of cars and carriages and all kinds 
of wagons on wheels. 



The woman in the car and the man on foot must exer- 
cise patience when held up at certain hours of the morn- 
ing and evening by the over-rush of automobiles or of 
people hurrying to work or to their homes. 

Almost every location in New York is either "Up- 
town" or "Downtown," Occasionally you hear "Cross- 
town" but not often. There is no actual dividing line 
between up and downtown. If you go South you are 
going downtown; if North, uptown. Between East and 
West the case is different. Broadway to 23rd Street 
and from 23rd Street up Fifth Avenue, is the popular 
dividing line. To be technically exact, Broadway to 
7th Street and Fifth Avenue up from 8th Street, is the 
map division. All streets are East or West, as they hap- 
pen to lie on the right or left of this line. It is against 
the law to cross a street in the middle of a block. Use 
regular crossings only. 

No city excels us in the frequency or rapidity of our 
local transportation. We have surface cars on almost 
every thoroughfare; a Subway and Elevated System on 
the West Side and the same on the East. At 42nd Street 
there is a short line on which passengers may change 
from the East Side to the West, or vice versa, and con- 
tinue their journey without extra fare. There is also 
a Subway line on Broadway to which you can also trans- 
fer from the same connecting line. Other Subway 
trains, using these same tunnels, take you to Brooklyn, 
Long Island City and all the little towns in Brooklyn, 
as far as Coney Island. The fare to the latter point 
is only 10 cents and the time about 40 minutes. On 
each Elevated and Subway station there is a colored 
map showing the different stations on the route you 
are going to take. Consult those maps for the station 
you Mdsh to get off at or ask the guard on the train. 
He always calls out the name of the next station as 
the car approaches. Stations are about six blocks apart 

4 




The house where Theodore Roosevelt was born — No. 28 
Twentieth Street. To be restored and kept as a 
memorial of the Great American 



East 



in local trains and a mile and a half on Expresses. All 

subway entrances on the street are plainly marked "Up- 
town" or "Downtown." 

There are separate tracks for Express and Local 
trains on the Subways, so look for the sign which points 
to the different tracks. Except on the Sixth Avenue 
Elevated, the same system applies to the Third and 
Ninth Avenues. Avoid travel between 7.00 and 9.30 
A. M. and between 4.30 and 6.30 P. M. These are the 
rush hours when the trains are packed to the limit. 

In all probability the average visitor who does not in- 
tend to go outside of New York will use one of the two 
main Subway lines — the East or the West. They prac- 
tically cover every foot of the entire island and will 
get you anywhere. Assuming therefore that you are 
staying in the hotel section, you will find the West Side 
Subway the most convenient if you are located West of 
Fifth Avenue; and the East Side Subway if you are 
East of the Avenue. The group of hotels adjoining the 
Grand Central Terminal are directly in touch with both 
systems, as the connecting railway runs past their en- 
trance on 42nd Street. Trains run on about a two min- 
ute schedule. 

The street cars stop only at corners and never in the 
middle of the block; downtown corners going up, and 
uptown corners coming down. The Fifth Avenue buses 
stop on the far side. Bus fare is 10 cents. 

Taxis have succeeded hackmen. Charge per mile reg- 
ulated by the city. Inside each taxi the rate card is 
prominently displayed. Each cab carries a meter which 
counts the mileage. There is no chance for argument 
with the driver, as the charge must agree with the dis- 
tance travelled as shown by the meter. In case of dis- 
pute, order the driver to take you to the nearest police 
station. 




"LET US HAVE PEACE" 
Grant'sMonument on Riverside Drive at 122nd Street 
American Studios 



Four great bridges also connect with Brooklyn. They 
aiFord fine views and are worth a visit. But the under- 
ground is much better if you need to save time. Ferries 
still ply between the city and its neighbors^ but they 
are seldom used for passenger traffic, except in the case 
of Staten Island and one or two other instances not likely 
to be used by the tourist. 

A popular and much more comfortable way to see the 
city is by means of one of the numerous sightseeing 
buses. This has grown to be quite a business. 

There are several companies with starting points at 
convenient places, and the points of interest they have 
selected are the result of close acquaintance with the 
city. The cost is from one to two dollars. 

Your hotel clerk can tell you the nearest one to take 
or consult the list at the back of this book. They have 
intelligent lecturers, who describe the different points 
as they go along, which adds much to the interest of the 
trip. 

There are two routes generally selected — one through 
the low^er part of the city below 23rd Street, and the 
other north, or uptown. That through the lower part 
of the city gives a comprehensive view from Madison 
Square down Fifth Avenue and Broadway to Bowling 
Green, from which point a fine view is had of the Bay, 
the Statue of Liberty, the Aquarium, and the Battery. 
The financial district. Stock Exchange, the Bowery, 
Chinatown, the Italian and Hebrew quarters and Brook- 
lyn Bridge are seen on the way. The lecturer will call 
out the different buildings as the car rolls along, giving 
a brief history of each, which adds much to the interest 
of the trip. 

There is also a trip around Manhattan Island by the 
sight-seeing yachts Observation and Tourist, which is of 
extreme interest and well worth making. The boats start 



from Battery Park Pier at 10.30 A. M. and 2.30 P. M. 
daily, from May 1st to November 1st. They sail up 
the East River, around the island, through the Harlem 
Ship Canal, down the Hudson, past the Palisades, Fort 
Washington, Grant's Tomb and Riverside Park, reveal- 
ing an unexpected number of interesting features of 
the shipping and commerce of New York as well as the 
gigantic Atlantic liners. 

Another trip starts from the above-mentioned pier at 
1.15 P. M. daily^ going down the Bay to Staten Island, 
past the Quarantine Station, Forts Hamilton, Wads- 
worth and Lafayette, through the Narrows to the Lower 
Bay, past Sandy Hook Lightship and Fort Hancock. 
The yacht rounds the Sandy Hook Lightship (25 miles 
from Battery Pier), presenting an unequalled view of 
the entrance to New York Harbor. On the way back 
to the city a good view is given of famous Coney Island, 
Brighton and Manhattan beaches. As in the case of 
the motor buses, here again the lecturer adds greatly 
to the interest of the trip by his intelligent descriptions. 

The very latest and up-to-the-minute method of See- 
ing New York is undoubtedly by the new hourly Aero- 
plane route. For a genuine thrill, this is highly recom- 
mended to the tourist in New York. Elsewhere in these 
pages we have shown a photograph of this Limousine 
Airboat and call attention to its luxurious appointments. 
Do not miss this very novel experience. It does not fly 
in Winter. Fifty mile flight, hourly service, weather 
permitting. Comfort and safety considered first. $50 
per passenger. 

Women Travelling Alone. 

Notwithstanding the lurid posters that dot the country 
landscape depicting the perils of the beautiful girl alone 
in our great city, it still remains a fact that New York 
is the best village in the Union for women travelling 

9 




Statue of Nathan Hale in City Hall Park. "I regret that I have 

but one life to give for my country" 
© Brown Bros. 



alone. And there is absolutely nv, comparison in this 
respect between it and Continental cities. 

New York is not perfect, but any woman who encount- 
ers unpleasant situations in our city has, to a very large 
extent, her own self to blame for it. Nevertheless, a 
certain amount of caution is necessary ; common sense 
is still a valuable possession and should not be left at 
home while travelling. Experience shows that two women 
together are practically immune from embarrassing expe- 
riences, while the solitary visitor is more exposed, espec- 
ially if the hour is late and you happen to be in certain 
localities. 

Abundant protection is afforded the lone young woman 
on every hand. Almost immediately upon arrival repre- 
sentatives of the Travellers' Aid Society will direct her 
to a suitable and respectable hotel or boarding house. 
In spite of all these precautions, however, some sad hap- 
penings are matters of frequent record, most of which 
are mainly preventable. A very good rule is to pursue 
about the same line of conduct you would at home. You 
do not permit strangers to become familiar, and when 
yoa want information j^ou ask a policeman. Do the same 
here. It is useless to provide bureaus of information, 
uniformed attendants and other conveniences if the 
stranger will calmly ignore them. 

Special Hotels for Women. 

It is not enough to pick out a hotel in advance by 
name only. You must also know the exact street num- 
ber. There are frequently two places of the same name 
or very similar, but of an entirely different character. 
Also some hotels do not care to receive women unescorted 
at a late hour unless reservation has been made in ad- 
vance. None of the first-class hotels in the vicinity of 
the Grand Central or Pennsylvania Terminals would 
think of such a discourtesy, and one of them has an 
entire floor reserved exclusively for women. The Martha 

11 



Washington is wholly patronized by women and is open 
all night. This is the one hotel which was especially 
built and is meant for women exclusively. Men cannot 
stop here nor visit above the first floor. 

New York has 140 hotels of the first class_, with 50,000 
rooms for guests. They represent an investment of 
$300,000,000 and employ 75,000 persons. There are as 
many ^jiore smaller hotels. The oldest is Fraunces' 
Tavern, at Broad and Pearl Streets, opened in 1762. 
The newest are the Pennsylvania and the Commodore, 
opened in 1919, with more than 4,000 guest rooms. The 
Commodore has served an entire regiment of 3,000 men 
in one room. At the same time 4,000 other guests were 
being served in the various restaurants and dining rooms 
of the hotel. The Biltmore, with 1,000 rooms and many 
restaurants, serves more than 2,000,000 meals a year, 
and uses nearly 600 tons of meat and poultry, 2,500 bar- 
rels of flour, and all the milk that 300 cows furnish. 

There are other accommodations at all sorts of prices, 
and if the length of your stay is at all dependent upon 
your pocketbook you can arrange accordingly. Very few 
hotels include meals with the price of the room. You 
are expected to eat where you choose. This is much 
the better, as you need not return to the hotel till -bed- 
time, if you so desire. You are very apt to be quite 
a distance from it at luncheon, for instance, and the 
time lost returning would be considerable. 

A room with bath in a good hotel centrally located 
can be had from $3 to $4 a day. Without bath $2.50 
to $3.50. The hotels of international reputation, like 
the Biltmore, Waldorf, Commodore, Astor, etc., are about 
double those figures for an ordinary room; but, of course, 
there is practically no limit to what you may pay for 
a special suite. Dining at these hotels is on an equally 
expensive scale ; but the service is good, the surroundings 

12 




•A CATHEDRAL OF COMMERCE" 

The famous Woolworth Building on Broadway just south of 
City Hall Park. 
B'wav Park Place Co. 



are enjoyable^ the music and dancing very entertaining. 
All this adds to the expense of the food, and your share 
is included in the check which is handed you at the con- 
clusion of your repast. 

Life in these wonderful hotels is as much a source 
of amusement as any other attraction in New York, 
and to those to whom it is unfamiliar the indulgence is 
well worth the cost. It certainly permits a glimpse of 
cosmopolitan New York at its best, and to many persons 
is far more interesting than the average theatre. 

But you can hire a furnished room in a good neigh- 
borhood for about $10 a week, dine at a cafeteria, or any 
one of a hundred good reasonably priced restaurants, 
and then walk through the big hotels afterwards. You 
can even go into the writing room and send a letter 
home on the hotel's richly crested stationery if you wish, 
and no one will object. You can also buy a two-cent 
stamp for two cents, but a two-cent evening paper will 
cost you three cents, so watch your step. 

Yet there is no necessity for reckless extravagance 
simply because you happen to be in New York. There 
are lots of other people here, too, and they live in it 
all the time, and manage to get along quite com- 
fortable on moderate incomes. Taxis, while comfort- 
able, are not absolutely necessary. The subway will 
take you within a few blocks of anywhere, and the 
fare is only a few cents, even if you ride to the end 
of its fifteen miles. There is no city in the world where 
transportation is so good, and between ten and four the 
cars are not uncomfortably crowded. With a little care 
the rush hours — between 7.30 and 9.30 A. M. and 4.30 
to 7 in the evening — ran be avoided. 

Another very delightful and inexpensive way of seeing 
the city is from the top of a Fifth Avenue Bus. This 
line traverses our most noted thoroughfare through its 
busiest and most interesting length. The fare is ten 

14 



cents^ and is about the best ten cents' worth you will 
get during your stay. The routes very in direction from 
Millionaires' Row, east of Central Park, to Grant's 
Tomb, on Riverside Drive and the upper part of the 
city, which is worth seeing. It is a comfortable ride 
and not a dull moment in it. Seeing New York from 
a bus top is equally as popular as seeing London in 
the same way. 

THE FRICK COLLECTION. 

Announcement has just been made that the valuable 
Art collection made by the late Henry C. Frick has 
been left to the city as a public museum. 

This new museum is located on 5th Ave., between 
72nd and 73rd Streets. At the present moment of 
writing it cannot be definitely stated just when this 
collection will be open to the public but reference to 
the daily papers will supply the information. 



15 



THE CITY ITSELF 

T EGALLY speaking, the City of New Yorii consists 
^-^ of five separate Boroughs. What was formerly 
known as New York is now called the Borough of Man- 
hattan. It occupies the whole of Manhattan Island. The 
average person speaking of New York has in mind this 
particular place. He doesn't even know that it is a 
Borough and cares less. To him it has always been 
New York and always will be. 

The Island lies at the mouth of the Hudson River 
and is about two miles wide at its widest part and 
about thirteen long. It contains a little more than 
22,000 acres. Including, however, the adjoining Bor- 
oughs, the size of Greater New York is about 327 square 
miles. The total assessed valuation of real estate is 
$8,271,157,608. 

The population (1920) is very close to six millions. 
It seems to increase at the rate of about a hundred and 
fifty thousand a year. The vast number of returning 
soldiers and their friends have greatly added to the 
transient population and though the city has more and 
larger hotels than any other in the world, it has of late 
found increasing difficulty in caring for its visitors. Even 
in normal times it is estimated that a hundred thousand 
strangers are within its hospitable gates every night. 

No city in the world rivals New York in the magni- 
tude and rapidity of its growth. It costs over five hun- 

17 



dred and forty-three millions to run INew York, as 
against two hundred and twenty millions to run Chicago 
and only seventy-six millions to run Philadelphia. Pub- 
lic schools alone cost over eighty-seven millions. 

In an international sense, it has also grown greatly 
since the war. Its imports and exports have increased 
tremendously; there is no comparison between today's 
figures and those of 1914. In a financial sense it shows 
corresponding growth. In this one particular it is now 
perhaps the most important city in the world. London 
is still great and so is Paris. But the huge expenditures 
for the late war, the immense loans raised by our own 
and Allied Governments were largely financed in New 
York and this will for some time to come make New 
York a tremendous factor in the world's affairs. 

In the case of a man grown suddenly great, every 
little scrap of information regarding his early life is 
eagerly sought for and treasured. Every detail, no mat- 
ter how trifling, is of absorbing interest. And so it is 
with a city. New York, being so young and yet so 
old, is a fruitful topic for the man in the street, as 
well as the antiquarian. For you who visit the metrop- 
olis for the first time, nothing can be amiss that will 
add to your knowledge of the city and to a better 
understanding of its origin, its rise and its progress. 
In the pages which follow, therefore, an attempt has 
been made to set forth some of its most important char- 
acteristics and to exjDlain^ if possible, the fascination it 
possesses for so many different types of people, and its 
all embracing popularity. 

"That New York has accepted without protest her 
role as Siren City cannot be denied," remarks Harrison 
J. Rhodes. "Indeed, she rather expects waiters and dram- 
atists to portray the dangers which lurk within her bosom 
for the pure young men and women from the country. 
Boston and Philadelphia are not free from evil, Heaven 

18 



I%8fe 


B?y«M;'MlfcWflf 


w^^^^ 



Beginning of New York's Street Cleaning Department. Calling 
the roll, 1868 




This shows the great improvements, made by Colonel Waring as 
Street Commissioner. Calling the roll in 1920 



knows, but there is something faintly ridiculous in the 
idea of their luring a man to destruction." And so the 
great mass of literature produced outside of the city 
for rural consumption must necessarily feature this jDhase 
of city life or be forever eschewed by its bucolic con- 
stituency. 

Nevertheless, there is so much that is attractive, so 
much that is uplifting and inspiring, that it is a mat- 
ter of regret to the real New Yorker that such raisin- 
formation and drivel is so generally distributed. There 
is also much, no doubt, over which a veil could be drawn. 
But that is inevitable in a city so large. The unbiased 
chronicler of Manhattan, nevertheless, has a vast store- 
house of facts from which to draw, and needs no help 
from his imagination. 

Its Discovery 

"He was born — no one knows where or when. He 
died — no one knows when or how. He comes into our 
view on the quarterdeck of a little shallop of scarcely 
ninety tons burden. He goes out of it in a crazy boat 
manned by seven sick sailors, cast adrift in the Arctic 
seas to perish miserably, the victim of a cruel mutiny." 

So writes one historian of Henry Hudson, whose 
name is first identified with New York. He appears 
to have vanished into nothingness when his great work 
was done. Even his likeness and autograph are not 
generally believed to be genuine. No one knows his 
age at the time he made his discoveries. That he was 
of mature years is shown by his having an eighteen- 
year-old son. But whether he was a hale mariner of 
forty or a grizzled veteran of seventy, has never been 
guessed. 

For his perilous journey, in the frailest of frail crafts, 
Hudson received the munificent sum of $320. In case 
he never came back the directors of the company agreed 
to paj^ his widow a further sum of $8Q in cash. 

20 




Pastoral scene of the extreme north end of Manhattan Island, 
Inwood Heights 




Anything but a pastoral scene — the extreme southern end of the 
same island 



"Hudson/' John Fiske tells us, "was a notable in- 
stance of the irony of human destiny. In all that he 
attempted he failed; yet he achieved great results that 
were not contemplated in his original plans. He started 
two immense industries — the Spitzenbergen whale fish- 
eries and the Hudson Bay fur trade, now the world 
renowned Hudson's Bay Company; and he brought the 
Dutch to Manhattan Island. No realization of his 
dreams, however, could have approached the astonish- 
ing reality which would have greeted him could he have 
looked through the coming centuries and caught a glimpse 
of what the voyager now beholds in sailing up the bay 
of New York. 

"But what perhaps would have surprised him most 
of all would have been to learn that his name was*to 
become part of the folk lore of the beautiful river to 
which it is attached; that he was to figure as a Dutch- 
man instead of an Englishman in both legend and story; 
that when it is thunder weather in the Catskills, children 
would say it is "Hendrik Hudson" playing at skittles 
with his goblin crew. Perhaps it is not an unkindly fate. 
Even as Milton wished for his dead friend Lycidas that 
he might become the genius of the shore, so the memory 
of the great Arctic navigator will remain a familiar 
presence among the hillsides which the gentle fancy of 
Washington Irving has clothed with undying romance." 

In one important respect our city has been particu- 
larly fortunate. The records of its early days are singu- 
larly full and complete. This applies not only to its 
documentary records, but also and more particularly, to 
its pictorial records. It is an inestimable privilege to 
know that what we see is an exact and contemporary 
drawing of what our city looked like at that time. In 
one respect at least its original settlement by a private 
corporation was of exceeding value from an historic 
point of view. The Dutch West India Company, under 

22 




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whose charter the elty was established, left nothing to 
the discretion of its subordinates. Minute instrueUons 
eoneernmg the most trivial details were received bv 
every packet ship. Full directions regardingthe con- 
struction of the first fort and the loca^tion o{ the sur- 
rounding houses accompanied Peter Minuit, the fir t 
Governor General, on his voyage of settlement. 

Ihe island was purchased from the Indians in 1626 
for some trinkets, valued at $24, and Fort Amsterdam 

IZnTT^"" r' '''' "' ">^ l~t Custom Hot" 
facing Bowling Green. At this time the island ended 
there. The streets to South Ferry and Battery Park have 
since been added. The same is true of both the entIL 
Kast and West sides of the downtown section Pearl 

Certain popular errors of these earlv days have re 
mained uncorrected. We call the Hudso.rR' er the 
North River, although every one knows that it lies di 

lork and Brooklyn is called the East River, although 
.t IS not a river at all, but an arm of the sea Bofh 
of these errors are inherited from the Dutch, who spoke 
of Hudson s river as forming the north boundary of their 
possessions of which the Delaware River marked the 
south bou„dary-or South River, as they called it 

The City of the Dutch. 

to tte'citfoTthe n t'^" V "^^ '''''"' ^^--t -«-ly 
CO tne city of the Dutch. New Street, a few steps from 

Broadway, is particularly redolent of these craX dlZ 

It was the last street opened in this vicinit; and aUhouS 



24 




The fine portico of St. Mark's Church, Eleventh Street and 

Second Avenue. Governor Stuyvesant is buried 

here, and also A. T. Stewart 



At the hegmmng of things during the Dutch Occupa- 
tion, the northern limit of this little hamlet, then on the 
edge of a wilderness, was fixed at Wall Street; and for 
half a century the settlement was hemmed in by a 
wooden wall or palisade, which extended from river to 
river. That's how the street got its name— Wall Street. 
There was first a cattle guard built along this road 
by felling trees and piling them, roots out, in a row 
along the path. A few years later the inhabitants were 
ordered by Stuyvesant to erect a substantial barrier in 
place of the guard. This answered the same purpose 
and in addition protected the settlers from the depreda- 
tions of bears, wolves, foxes and other animals, but prin- 
cipally against Indians and nearby settlers. The Dutch 
were continually in danger of a quarrel with the English 
on account of European politics, and feared an attack 
at any time. This structure stood until about 1699, 
when it was torn down. Meanwhile, it had confined the 
growth of the city to a very small section and retarded 
an orderly arrangement of streets. That is why the 
city below Wall Street is so irregular and confusing. 
Many of the streets follow the old cow paths. Yet the 
visitor, with a soul for the past, would do well to begin 
his pilgrimage in the footsteps of the first settlers. This 
section contains the earliest pages of New York's history 
and witnessed the little fur trading post become a hardy 
pioneer city of almost twenty-five thousand inhabitants, 
ere the dark days of the Revolution all but encompassed 
its destruction. 

Unlike other historic American cities. New York has 
preserved few buildings erected prior to the Revolution, 
a neglect which has since been keenly regretted. Con- 
sequently, while there are many interesting locations in 
the neighborhood below Wall Street, all of the original 
buildings have disappeared, and the best we can offer 
the tourist is a tablet placed on the site of some of 



26 




Music in the Mall, Central Park. Ten to fifteen thousand are 
in the audience. 
U. & U. 



wLTlZT''"^^"'''' '•^'^''"■"g "*^ f°'-°'er building 
C„ ton. H '••„ ^^■;^^'-"»Ple' in the corridor of thf 

torfof th^.^T T ' ^' ^"""'^ " *^'''^' containing the his- 

Wil I] .' "■" ','' '"''"P*'"" «^ ^'"■t Amsterdam. 

With these few explanatory remarks we will now be- 
gm our tour through New York, which we hope wm 
enlighten and entertain our visitor. In order to present 
the various sections consecutively and in the order of 
their development, we shall start where the Dutch started 

and recording its history as we proceed 

Assuming that you are in the hotel district at 42nd 

the Elevated, ,t doesn't matter which, and get ou at' 
Bowling Green Station. Time, 12 minutes. ^ 




WHERE THE CITY BEGAN 

Fort Amsterdam ; Battery Park ; the Custom House ; 

THE Aquarium; Shipping; Statue of Liberty; 

Governor's Island; Ellis Island; Etc. 



/'^OMING out of the Subway you will find the great 
^^ Federal Custom House where the Fort used to be. 
Among other things in the old Fort was a small but 
somewhat pretentious building called the "Governor's 
House/' and a very small churchy used by the Dutch 
in the morning and the English in the afternoon, called 
the Church of St. Nicholas, or "Church in the Fort." 
It was the mother of all the Collegiate Dutch Churches 
in New York, and its direct descendant today is located 
at Fifth Avenue and 29th Street, which is very proud 
of its ancestry and calls attention to it by a large sign. 
When the Fort was finally demolished (in 1790), the 
-city erected a handsome building on this site, in which 
to provide a residence for the President, as New York 
was then the Capitol of the United States. But New 
York suffered a grievous disappointment; the Gov- 
ernment moved to Philadelphia and the "Government 
House," as it was called, was used as a Custom House. 
In 1812 it was demolished and the ground sold by the 

30 



city to private persons for three hundred thousand dol- 
lars. Handsome houses then were built, and Bowling 
Green (its new name,) became a very fashionable street. 

Steamship Row. 

These splendid houses were the wonder of their day. 
In point of grandeur they far exceeded anything that 
had yet appeared. They were occupied by families of 
the first soeial importance. Stephen Whitney, inventor 
of the famous cotton gin and counted the richest man 
of his day, lived in the second house from Broadway; 
Peter Remsen, John Guion, David Austin, Elisha Riggs 
and Ferdinand. Suydam completed the sextette. At a 
later date, Commodore Vanderbilt lived in the house at 
the State Street corner. In spite of all their magnifi- 
cence, however, these houses for the greater part of their 
existence were without running water, gas or steam heat. 
Open fireplaces furnished all the warmth obtainable. 
The pump that supplied the water was still standing 
late in the seventies on the southwest corner. Smoke 
from the great fire of 1835 which prostrated the city, 
ruined the draperies in these houses and tarnished the 
silver. 

During the Civil War the Battery was naturally the 
scene of bustle and confusion early and late; and when 
the park was used as a detention camp for Southern 
prisoners the combination effectually destroyed the quiet 
dignity of the neighborhood and its fall from social 
grace was rapid and complete. In the late '60's, the 
great Cunard Line moved its offices into one of these 
abandoned houses, to be followed soon afterward by 
all the other foreign steamship companies — the White 
Star, Anchor, Inman, Guion, Transatlantique, Holland 
and others, and the street became known the world 
over as "Steamship Row." About 1900 the Government 
finally decided to buy back the old location for the 

32 



Custom House^ which it did, paying three million dol- 
lars for whaj had been sold for a tenth of that sum. 
Nevertheless the land which belonged to the Government 
in its very earliest days, three hundred years ago, has 
now reverted to its original owner and probably will 
never again be permitted to go out of its possession. 

These foreign companies evident^ liked this pirt of 
town and clung to it even after the demolition of the 
"Row." The various offices filtered into the nearby 
streets, where they are today — State Street, Battery 
Place and lower Broadway. With the purchase of the 
Washington Building at No. 1 Broadway by the Inter- 
national Mercantile Marine Co. and the completion of 
site at No. 25, to be largely occupied by the Cunard Line, 
this vicinity may be safely regarded as the headquarters 
of the Transatlantic trade for some years to come. 

The magnificent statuary on the Custom House is the 
work of the noted sculptor Daniel Chester French. They 
represent the great trading nations of the world. During 
the late war the statue of Germania was changed to 
represent Belgium, so that no honor would be done to 
a state guilty of sinking helpless merchant ships and 
drowning women and children. The allegorical figures 
represent the four great continents, Europe, Africa, Asia 
and America. Inside the building are ten decorative 
paintings of great excellence, depicting the old maritime 
parts of the Seventeenth Century, including New Am- 
sterdam (New York) and Fort Orange (Albany). 

Leaving the Custom House, we come out upon Battery 
Park. 

I walked with my wife for an hour before dinner 
at the Battery. What a beautiful spot it is! The 
grounds are in fine order. The noble bay with the 
opposite shores of Brooklyn and Staten Island, 
vessels of every description, from the well-appointed 
Liverpool packets to the little market craft, give 
life and animation to a prospect unexcelled by 
any city in the world. — Philip Hone, 1845. 

34 



The scene is just as entrancing now as it was then. 
If anything^ it is even more interesting. The shipping 
is more picturesque. There are new and stranger types 
of ships. War ships, merchant ships, iron ships, steel 
ships, wooden ships, air ships, and every known descrip- 
tion of sailing craft dot the waters in every direction. 
The bustle of the harbor; the saucy little tug hauling 
huge strings of loaded barges; the arriving and depart- 
ing liners; the ferries to Brooklyn, Staten Island, New 
Jersey, excursions to Coney Island, Rockaway Beach, 
the Highlands, superb million dollar private yachts, 
launches and odds and ends of maritime life — all com- 
bine to make a memorable scene and one never to be 
forgotten. 

Opposite the West side of the Custom House is a 
rather interesting antique — the monument erected by the 
city in 1818 to mark the South-west bastion of Fort 
George. It disappeared in some mysterious manner, 
probably during the filling in of the Battery in 1851. 
At all events, it was unearthed during the excavations 
for the subway, and was replaced near the sidewalk in 
the grounds of the park in 1907. 

After a stroll along the sea wall we enter a circular- 
shaped building, one of the most popular in all New 
York, the Aquarium. This is also one of our most im- 
portant historical possessions and said to be one of the 
best known single structures in the whole United States, 
not even excepting the Statue of Liberty. It was for- 
merly old Castle Garden and through its portals millions 
of emigrants passed in the years gone by. That is 
why it is so well known. All their descendants have 
heard of it. It was originally built as a fort in 1812 
and named after DeWitt Clinton, then Governor of the 
State. It later became a place of entertainment. It 
seated 8,000 persons. It is the Nation's great landing 
place for distinguished foreign visitors. Lafayette came 

35 




Arrival of the Right Hon. Arthur Balfour, head of the British 
Mission. Dock Commissioner R, A, C. Smith is on the left, 
© U. & U. George T. Wilson on right. 



here on his first visit to America in 1854; "Papa" JofFre, 
that other beloved Frenchman; the Belgian king, Gen'l 
Pershing and the Prince of Wales followed. Jenny 
Lind sang here under P. T. Barnum. It is now under 
the care of the New York Zoological Society, a private 
organization, and used as an Aquarium. Its collection of 
fishes, especially from nearby tropical waters, is won- 
derful. Seals and sea lions are here, besides huge alli- 
gators, turtles and all kinds of aquatic curiosities. It 
is one of the most popular attractions in the city and 
is visited every year by nearly two million persons^ See 
tablets. 

Leaving the Aquarium we turn to the left and see 
the statue erected to Ericsson, the inventor of the Mon- 
itor, and the man who consigned all unarmored ships at 
once to the scrap heap by his wonderful idea. The 
Monitor undoubtedly saved New York from bombard- 
ment during the Civil War and Ericsson's fame is some- 
thing of which New York is justly proud. No wholly 
wooden ships were ever built by 'the great navies of 
the world after the performance of the Monitor at 
Hampton Roads. 

A little further along is a statue of Verrazzano, an 
Italian navigator, who visited New York Harbor in 1524, 
and next to it a steel flag pole to mark a similar pole 
standing near there when the British evacuated New 
York. They greased the pole but left the British flag 
flying. An American soldier, Van Arsdale, successfully 
climbed the pole and lowered the flag before the British 
departed and raised the Stars and Stripes in its place. 
On every Evacuation Day since, a descendant of this 
Van Arsdale hoists the American Flag on this pole at 
sunrise. The present pole is a steel mast belonging 
to the yacht Constitution, one of the preliminary defend- 
ers of America's Cup. 

The large building on the left is the Barge Office or 



38 



landing stage for immigrants from Ellis Island. The 
ferry boat for Ellis Island also leaves here, which makes 
an interesting side trip and affords an intimate glance 
of the process through which all immigrants must pass 
before reaching the "Melting Pot" proper. A short 
distance from the barge office is the ferry which takes 
you to the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island. On 
arrival at the island the visitor may ascend a staircase 
inside of the statue and look out upon the harbor of 
New York and the city from a point just below the 
head. Both of these trips are well worth the short 
time spent upon them. 

State Street, facing the Battery, was in the early 
years of the last century perhaps the most fashionable 
and exclusive residential quarter of the city. Here lived 
the Livingstons, Gracies, Lenoxes, Rogers, Coles, Lud- 
lows, Mortons, Suydams, and other prominent New 
York families. The building at No. 7, the Church of 
Our Lady of the Rosary, is about the only one left in 
its original condition. There are a few others, but 
greatly altered. Most of them will also soon disappear. 
It was a beautiful location, commanding superb marine 
views, combined with the green lawn and handsome 
shade trees of the park. The adjoining streets, Broad- 
way, Greenwich and Washington, just off the Battery 
on the north, were also residences of well-to-do families. 
At one time Washington Irving lived at No. 16 Broad- 
way, with his friend Henry Brevoort. He often strolled 
up to the corner of Cortland Street to visit the Widow 
Jane Renwick, whose son became afterwards a professor 
at Columbia College. His son in turn become one of 
the foremost architects in the city, chief among his works 
being St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue and the 
first of the Grand Central Stations — a marvel in its day. 

The Municipal Ferry to Staten Island also leaves in 
this immediate neighborhood at the foot of Whitehall 

41 



Street. This street was named for Stuyvesant's town 
house, "White Hall." Washington also departed from 
this point on his return to Annapolis (1783). Tablet 
marks the site. If you can afford an hour to make the 
run over and back, it is well worth the trouble. Boats 
leave every twenty minutes and you may return on the 
same ferry that takes you over. A good view of Gov- 
ernor's Island, Fort Lafayette, Fort Hamilton, Fort 
Schuyler and Castle William and the Narrows is thus 
enjoyed. Numerous outgoing and incoming steamers 
will be passed on the way. The famous Sailor's Snug 
Harbar may be visited while at the island, and a splendid 
view enjoyed of the Statute of Liberty on Bedloe's 
Island. 

Bedloe's Island was bought by the city from Captain 
Kennedy as far back as 1758. It was ceded to the 
Federal Government in 1800, who made it one of the 
outer defenses of the city by erecting a small fort upon 
it, known as Fort Wood. There is still the suggestion 
of a fort in the star shaped walls which surround the 
base of the Statue of Liberty, which, by the way, was 
a gift from France in 1883. The pedestal of the statue 
was erected by popular subscription. 

Governor's Island, in sight of the Battery, is now 
military headquarters for the Department of the East 
and a special permit is required to visit the island. Old 
"Castle Bill," as Castle William is called, is a huge 
military prison. The island has a large aviation field, 
besides other interesting features, and a very interesting 
museum of war relics. 

The three streets at the west, running north from the 
Battery, are quite interesting; West Street, facing the 
river, for its immense shipping; Washington Street for 
its polyglot population, and Greenwich Street because 
of its one time splendor. In fact, Greenwich Street in 
1825 was called Millionaire's Row and had for residents 

42 




© Underbill 



Bowling Green in front of the Custom House. 




Battery Park. View of incoming liner. Whitehall Building 
on right 




A few members of the Bowling Green Neighborhood Association, 
West Street near the Battery 



such families as Brockholst Livingston, John Johnston, 
James Lenox — the same type, in fact, as occupied ex- 
clusive State Street. Many of these old Greenwich 
Street buildings are still standing and this section is 
today a very curious quarter of New York, inasmuch 
as it remains a residential section with, however, a great 
difference socially. From the Battery to Vesey Street 
and from Greenwich to West Street there is a population 
of about ten thousand. They are crowded into tene- 
ments made out of old warehouses and former fashion- 
able houses now fallen into decay. It is estimated tint 
more than twenty-seven nationalities are represented. 
The Irish used to dominate, but they have given way 
to the Poles. Next come Syrians, then Greeks, Armen- 
ians and peoples from Palestine and Mesopotamia. Quite 
a business is carried on in needlework and some of the 
lace work is quite interesting, and their merchandise is 
sold wholesale and retail throughout the United States. 
Some modern loft buildings have lately made their ap- 
pearance, all tenanted by firms with unpronounceable 
names. One enterprising dealer announces branch offices 
in Athens, Pereus, Salonica, Bagdad, Cairo, Rhodes and 
Alexandria — quite a brave showing for a little shop in 
New York. 

Naturally the presence of so many families brings 
with it a corresponding number of children. Both the 
children and the mothers have found a great friend in 
the Bowling Green Neighborhood Association, an organ- 
ization which has voluntarily taken up settlement work. 
They have provided a playground, a little hall where 
dances and social affairs can be had; a modest little 
library; a babies' clinic and other desirable attributes. 
The infant mortality, from an abnormally high rate, has 
been reduced to correspond with the average of the city 
at large, and in other ways the Neighborhood Associa- 
tion has made for itself a warm spot in the heart of 
these friendless foreigners. 

45 



The magnificent office building on Battery Place, just 
west of Greenwich Street, is the Whitehall Building and 
houses the Government Weather Bureau. In very hot 
weather it is always very much cooler up in the tower 
of this high building, where the temperature is recorded, 
and the New Yorker sweltering on the parched side- 
walks six hundred feet below, always adds ten degrees 
to what the official figures report. The Whitehall Build- 
ing is headquarters for shipping, export, coal and oil 
businesses. Important firms are located here and on 
the top floor is one of the numerous lunch clubs that 
abound downtown. The view from the dining room win- 
dows presents what is said to be the most perfect marine 
picture to be found on the whole coast. On clear days 
it is possible to see far beyond Long Branch on the 
Jersey Coast and to Rockaway on the East. Incoming 
liners can be seen hours before they arrive. 

West Street which begins off Battery Park and skirts 
the city, facing the Hudson, is the great shipping sec- 
tion. It is one long succession of steamers, ships, piers, 
docks and ferries. Thousands of wagons, motor trucks 
and every description of moving vehicle are constantly 
coming and going. A dimunitive street car traverses 
practically the whole waterfront. Those interested in 
shipping will find this mode of conveyance a good way 
of viewing the scene. The car moves leisurely along 
and stops frequently. You need plenty of time for a 
trip on the Belt line, as interruptions are frequent and 
congestion is so great. But this affords opportunity 
for study and reflection and to jot down a few thoughts 
on the Traffic of a Great City. New York is now one 
of the great Ports in the world. Some say it is the 
greatest, but London still leads slightly. 

The section along West Street from about Chambers 
Street to Desbrosses is known as "The Farm." It is 
the receiving station for all our huge food supplies and 

47 



to accommodate the bulky merchandise the street lias 
been widened an extra hundred feet. Here all the 
Coast line steamships discharge their Southern produce 
and the great railroads, tapping the rich farming states 
adjacent to New York bring their huge contributions 
to the breakfast table of the metropolis. Apples, po- 
tatoes, garden truck by the thousands of barrels and 
hundreds of tons, are received almost hourly. The man- 
ner in which these goods disappear almost instantly is 
a caution. They are sold right on the pier, moved out- 
side to the "Farm" and then removed by their new 
owners. The new style motor trucks carry off as much 
as ten tons at a time and as the cars themselves weigh 
six tons, some idea of the wear and tear on the streets 
of New York is apparent. 

But the most amazing thing of all is the tremendous 
amount of goods continually arriving and departing. 
Something over eight thousand men are engaged in the 
work of handling alone. Everything is more or less 
perishable and must be gotten out of the way at once. 
No wonder a longshoremen's strike is so serious. 

The Fruit Exchange is located in Franklin Street. 
Here come all the fruits, foreign and domestic. One 
can hardly realize that lemons in lots of twenty-five 
thousand boxes are frequently disposed of in a few 
moments. Who in the world has use for so many lemons 
at one time? Oranges and grape fruit from Florida, 
Porto Rico and California; apples from Oregon, pmes 
from Hawaii, and the enormous products of the great 
fruit ranches of the Pacific Coast, here find an outlet. 
The New York market has an insatiable appetite. It 
is seemingly a bottomless pit. Every nation in the 
known world contributes. Cargoes arrive in endless 
procession. All the fruit sales are by auction and for 
cash. It is perhaps the last remaining business in which 
the old custom of selling to the highest bidder still 
prevails. And it is on a stupendous scale. Practically 

49 



the entire foreign fruit trade of the country is con- 
ducted in the few blocks comprised in the "Farm" we 
are looking at, with the exception of bananas. These 
are brought in by the ships of the great White Fleet 
ol the United Fruit Company and unloaded directly 
onto lighters alongside the steamers at their docks, lo- 
cated just a little south of the Farm, and from there 
shipped direct to all parts of the country. Thousands 
of bunches are handled daily. 

Just beyond the "Farm" begins the famous old Ganse- 
voort Market. There used to be a fort of the same name 
here m olden days. It resembles closely Covent Gar- 
den in London. All the Long Island farmers with their 
garden truck piled way up high and covered with canvas 
like a hay wagon, occupy one side of the square. They 
sell direct to the green grocers who come from all parts 
of the city. Across from the market gardeners are 
the dealers in all kinds of Live Poultry: chickens, ducks, 
geese, turkeys, guinea-hens, quail, partridge and every 
conceivable kind of bird. 

The New York Central tracks come in here from the 
West and on their sidings stand the newly arrived re- 
frigerating cars with dressed meats. Armour, Swift, 
Hammond, Cudahy, Wilson and all the great packers 
are represented. It is the great wholesale meat section 
and supplies the mammoth hotels, butchers, delicatessen 
shops, etc. 

Leaving the market we come into the Chelsea Im- 
provement Section, one of the most notable triumphs 
of a municipality in the reclamation of a water front. 
This was formerly a region of antiquated wooden piers, 
dropping away piecemeal from sheer rottenness. The 
old ISth Street dock in particular was to the New York 
boy forty years ago what the old swimmin' hole is to 
the country boy today. The head of that old dock is 
now far inland. Delamater's old Iron Works were here 
in those days and Ericsson, who lived on Beach Street, 

50 



nearby, superintended the building of his famous iron 
clad Monitor at these yards. Holland bought his idea 
for an undersea boat here also and the first practical 
Submarine was launched from the same yard that pro- 
duced the Iron Clad. Both these ideas revolutionized 
naval architecture the world over, and to little old New 
York belongs the credit of their origin. 

Something of this prophetic vision appears to be in- 
digenous to this neighborhood. When the project of 
reclaiming this run down water front by a series of 
docks of such immensity that private capital demurred 
at the undertaking, perhaps the success of the Monitor 
and the Submarine gave the authorities the needed cour- 
age to embark on the enterprise as a municipal work. 
Too much cannot be said of the success of what is now 
known the world .over as the Chelsea Docks, head- 
quarters of the great Transatlantic lines, White Star, 
Cunard, American, etc. They are a thousand feet long. 
Their massive concrete flooring resists all attempts at 
wear and tear and will remain after the Appian Way is 
forgotten. The architect of these docks has also recog- 
nized the value of beauty in their construction. Mari- 
time mythological figures ornament the exterior. The 
lines of the buildings are impressive. It is somewhat 
difficult to describe exactly the solid satisfaction which 
perspective gives the beholder. Massiveness and 
strength are blendefl with the refining influence of chas- 
tity in design. The broad plazas in front, the generous 
approaches .from the street, make this Improvement, 
one of which the city can well afford to boast. Nor is 
the beneficent result of this superior architecture con- 
fined to the Docks themselves. The surrounding build- 
inos are fast being brought into harmony with the digni- 
fied lines of the Chelsea Improvement, the splendid 

51 




The great thousand-foot Chelsea piers on North River, ownei 
by the City 




West Side shipping centre. Looking up West Street fror 

Battery Park 
© American Studios 



structures of the National Biscuit Company being a case 
in point. The success of this experiment has been so 
great that the city is extending the system between ^ith 
and 59th Streets. 

Directly opposite these dcoks, on the Hoboken side, 
is the former home of the great North German Lloyd 
and Hamburg- American lines. Their once proud fleets 
now fly the American flag after the most ignominious 
and contemptible surrender in the history of sea power. 
These docks have witnessed many stirring scenes during 
the last two years. Nearly four million American boys 
sailed to and returned from France from this point 
of embarkation. The property now belongs to the Fed- 
eral Government. 

On this side also are miles and miles of railroad cars 
bearing another of the city's prime necessities — coal. 
Trainload after trainload follows each other continu- 
ously up a trestle to a towering coal heap containing 
thousands of other tons and are emptied automatically. 
This huge pile never seems to change. Notwithstand- 
ing the constant additions by the never-ending line of 
fresh supplies there is a counter eff'ect in the deliveries 
to boats, lighters, etc., at the water edge which equalizes 
things. 

Resuming our interrupted walk, we come to the 23rd 
Street Ferries just above the Chelsea docks. Most of 
the boats are still running except the Pennsylvania. 
Here you connect with the Central, Erie and Lacka- 
wanna roads to Jersey City. 

The passenger traffic, however, now goes by the Hud- 
son Tubes, the ferries being mostly for vehicles. It 
remains, nevertheless, an important transit point though 
robbed of much of its former bustle and would hardly 
be recognized by the old New Yorker who recalls the 
days of its bygone <r\ory when it was one of the busiest 
parts of town, especially in summer at week ends. Just 
beyond 2Srd Street are more Atlantic steamships — the 

53 



Anchor Line, the Southern Pacific, the French and 
Italian lines, the Pacific Mail and Panama Steamers; 
the principal pier of the beautiful Albany Day Line 
boats and the swift steamers to Atlantic Highlands, 
Long Branch and Jersey Coast resorts. 

Here ends that stretch of the marginal street called 
West, paralleling the river called North, which isn't 
north at all, as we have explained. Beyond this, the 
street becomes Tenth Avenue. As if to recall its old 
days as "the shore road to Greenwich," it meanders off 
as all good shore roads do, into the heart of town, for- 
saking the turmoil and commercialism of the waterfront. 
It reappears, resplendent in new asphalt and handsome 
architecture as Amsterdam Avenue — again reminiscent 
of Colonial days — and makes a glorious exit in the 
sanctity of the classic atmosphere of Columbia Uni- 
versity and Cathedral Heights. 

There is also considerable shipping on the opposite 
shore of the city — the East River. This locality during 
the reign of the clipper was a veritable forest of masts. 
There are signs of a rejuvenation of American Merchant 
Marine and perhaps before long we will again see the 
white sails of ocean beauties and hear the song of the 
Chanty man. The South American trade docks largely 
in South Brooklyn, where an immense terminal develop- 
ment called the Bush Stores has been in process of com- 
pletion for several years. This now embraces miles and 
miles of piers, all equipped with the most modern appli- 
ances for the mechanical handling of freight. A lesson 
from Europe has evidently been learned by the American 
shipper and some of the ingenuity hitherto monopolized 
by the ore handlers of the great lakes has finally been 
adopted in the East. Huge factories are now located 
on these docks and an immense saving of unnecessary 
handling of freight is achieved. The old shipping quar- 
ter of Brooklyn, which formerly began at Pierrepont 

55 



Stores, just below the "Heights" in the days of the 
China tea trade, has gradually extended along the water- 
front and forms an unbroken line till it meets the Bush 
improvement, which we have just described. The South 
American ships still favor this locality, as do the steam- 
ers lor the Antipodes. From present indications there 
will soon be great and far reaching developments in 
everything pertaining to docks and ships. There is no 
telling what the result will be when the Government 
iinally announces its plans regarding its new ships, but 
in any event. New York is bound to be greatly affected. 

The Government has recently established an enor- 
mous Army Supply Bnse in this section. It is on a 
scale of magnitude never before approached. F.lse^- 
where we give a picture of the splendid structure. 

This maritime side of New York is very interesting. 
On account of the congestion that usually exists on the 
waterfront streets, the best way to see it is by a sail 
around the island. There is a boat that makes this trip 
twice daily — morning and afternoon. It leaves foot of 
42nd Street at 10 A. M. and 2 P. M., and the cost is 
.$2.00. 

We will now retrace our steps to the Custom House 
and proceed up Broadway. 



58 




The Adams Express Building at 



Broadway. 



THE MAIN STREET IN 
OUR VILLAGE— BROADWAY 

From Bowling Green to Wall Street and 
Trinity Church 

benedict arnold and the bowling green building. the 

HOMES OF STANDARD OIL AND "sTEEL". THE MOST 
FAMOUS CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



VIT'E have now quite thoroughly explored Battery Park 
* ^ and vicinity and will resume our tour up Broadway, 
starting at Bowling Green in front of the Custom House. 
It marks the beginning of the Main Street of our 
village. This ancient Colonial Park was once the heart 
of New Amsterdam and the resort of its leisure class 
when bowling was the baseball of that day. It is popu- 
larly believed that this is the exact site on which Peter 
Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians. 
It looms large in the history of these early days, being 
first used as a parade ground and afterwards as the 
weekly market place and annual fair. During the ses- 
sions of the last named function all persons were ex- 
empt from arrest for debt; so this celebration was highly 
popular. In 1732 it was ordered to be fenced in by the 
common council and was leased at one pepper-corn a 
year to three citizens for a private bowling green, the 
lease being renewed a second term for 20 shillings per 
annum. It subsequently became our first public park. 

61 



The Stamp Act Riot centered here in 1765^ when Gover- 
nor Colden's coach containing his effigy was burned. A 
leaden statue of George III. on horesback, also erected 
liere, was torn down during the Revolution and sent to 
Gov. Wolcott of Litchfield^ Conn., whose wife and daugh- 
ter melted it into 42^000 bullets for the patriots. The 
tail and parts of the flank of the horse were spared, and 
can be seen in the rooms of the New York Historical 
Society. The iron fence around the green was made in 
England and originally had iron crowns ornamenting the 
posts. Most of these w^ere broken off during the Revolu- 
tion. Washington reviewed the great Federal procession 
to commemorate the ratification by New York State of the 
Federal Constitution from this point in 1787. Conspic- 
uous in the parade was a huge float drawn by six horses 
carrying a replica of a S2-gun frigate named the Ship 
of State, and made by the ship carpenters of New York. 
In 1794 another riot occurred liere to protest against the 
Jay treaty.; altogether Bowling Green has had quite a 
busy existence. It is now for the time being, in repose. 
There is an effective bronze statue of Abraham De Pey- 
ster facing south, one of the original Dutch settlers who 
was Mayor in 1691. 

The Washington Building, No. 1 Broadway, stands on 
the site which is notable in this city of frequent changes 
for a record of stability rare in its annals. Since the 
first grant of land was made of this plot of ground in 
1643 to the present, only three buildings have stood upon 
it; first a little Dutch tavern, much frequented by the 
soldiers in the fort opposite ; then the Kennedy House, 
1760-1882, and now the Washington Building — at one 
time the tallest building in the city. It was from the 
Kennedy House that Andre set out upon his ill-fated 
journey to meet Arnold. As British Headquarters during 
the Revolution it sheltered Clinton, Howe, Carlton and 
others. It was never occupied by the Americans though 

62 




©u. & u. 



Armistice Day on Broadway 



Cyrus W. Field, projector of the Atlantic Cable, who 
erected the building now standing, named it after Wash- 
ington in the mistaken idea that he once made the old 
house his headquarters. Robert Fulton died in a house 
in the rear of this site. When New York was the capital, 
this house was the residence of the Spanish Minister 
Don Drego de Gardoqui. This gentleman evidently had 
a unique experience with a New York crowd as the fol- 
lowing item clipped from the New Yorh Gazette, 1786, 
would indicate: 

"The Spanish Ministser returns thanks to the 
citizens for their alacrity in extinguishing the fire 
that happened at his house. He observed many 
persons of the first distinction actively employed and 
although the doors were open to all and the house 
filled wth people, none of his effects were missing; 
everything carried out having been restored." 

In later years it became a hotel. The building bids 
fair to remain in its present condition for some time to 
come. 

The Bowling Green Building at No. 9, now owned by 
the Goulds, is quite closely connected with a dramatic 
incident of the Revolution. 

After Arnold at Tarrytown had delivered to Major 
Andre the papers that were to betray West Point into 
the hands of the British, he repaired to the house of his 
friend, Beverly Robinson nearby. There he met his 
bride of a little more than a year, Peggy Chew, one of 
the belles of Philadelphia. He had hardly embraced his 
wife when Robinson entered with the exciting news that 
a British spy had been captured, and that the plan of 
the defenses of West Point had been found upon him. 

Arnold aJone of the three knew what the fateful news 
portended. With a face blanched with fear he made the 
excuse of being obliged to return to look after the spy. 
He clasped his wife in his arms, looked upon the face 
of his sleeping baby for an instant, and was gone. He 
never saw them again. 

64 





■v: --i'*^S|^^B 




H 

tj|g;:.:A|il|| 


^RiHhBHHI^hhIBI 


p " ' 



Broadway looking north from the Guarantee Trust Building at 
Liberty Street. 



He escaped on the man-of-war Vulture and joined 
the British in New York. It is at this point that the 
Bowling Green Building comes in. He was quartered at 
the King's Arms^ a tavern which formerly occupied this 
site, and it was here that a daring plan was made by- 
Sargent Champe of "Light Horse" Harry Lee's Dra- 
goons. This intrepid soldier decided to join Arnold's 
"American Legion" (?) as a deserter from the patriots. 
He observed that Arnold walked in the gardens of the 
Tavern every evening, and planned to kidnap him with 
the help of confederates and make off before assistance 
could arrive. Sudden orders compelled both Arnold and 
Champe to proceed South before the evening agreed upon 
and the attempt came to nothing. Champe finally suc- 
ceeded in rejoining the American forces. It was a bold 
attempt and worthy of a better fate. A beautiful stained 
glass window by Edwin A. Abbey, representing the Dutch 
playing ninepins is one of the sights of this building and 
worth a visit. 

Numbers 17 and 19 were once the British Consulate, 
and here for a time lived Daniel Webster. At 21 and 27 
stood the Steven's House, a noted hotel, where Jenny 
Lind and P. T. Barnum stopped, besides other well 
known personages. 

And he stopped at an inn that is known very well, 
"Delinonico's" once — now "Stevens Hotel"; 
And, to venture a pun which I think rather witty, 
There's no better inn in that inn-famous city. 

—J. G. Saxe. 

It is now the site of the splendid offices of the Cunard 
Steamship Co. It was originally the site of the first 
Delmonico retaurant. 

Almost directly across the street is that Holy of Holies, 
the Standard Oil Building, at No. 26. Whole chapters 
could be written about this one building, perhaps the 
best known, certainly the most talked of, on Broadway. 

67 




'26 Broadway" — Home of the Great Standard Oil Company, 



As a practical demonstration in the gentle art of making 
money No. 26 Broadway is surely entitled to all the 
plaudits it receives. 

Notwithstanding the dislike of the family for public 
notoriety, it remains a fact that young John D. frequent- 
ly, in fact almost daily, weather permitting, drives to his 
office in a light gig drawn by two spirited horses. He 
seems to prefer it to a motor car. Nobody pays any at- 
tention except to mention his name as he goes prancing 
by. 

At No. 39 is the site of McComb's Mansion, where 
Washington lived in 1790, just before the removal of the 
capital from New York to Philadelphia. A Tablet at 
No. 41 Broadway marks the site of the first white men's 
dwellings in Manhattan, built in 1613. They were 
erected by Adrian Block, a Dutch explorer, and his crew, 
who had reached the island, but whose ship the Tiger, 
burned to the water's edge just off the Battery. Block 
managed in some miraculous manner, from what little 
material he saved from the Tiger, to construct another 
vessel, the Onrest. This site, therefore, marks also the 
beginning of ship building in New York, an industry 
which later grew to imposing proportions. 

At No. 52 Broadway, below Wall Street, stood until 
recently a building of more than ordinary interest — ^the 
first successful skyscraper erected in New York (1884). 
It was only eight stories high, but will tower historically 
higher than any building that will ever stand on the isl- 
land; it demonstrated the feasibility of skeleton steel 
construction and caused Manhattan to develop up into 
the air instead of along the ground. The effect of this 
invention has been truly remarkable. No other develop- 
ment in the progress of New York begins to approach 
it in the magnitude of the tremendous change it wrought, 
and of the altered conditions it created. Buildings on 

69 



hundred foot lots now contain the population of a good 
sized village, and at five o'clock a few blocks will give 
forth enough residents for a good sized city. 

Bradford Lee Gilbert, the architect whose genius gave 
to New York and the world this remarkable type of 
building, in telling the story to friends, said that the 
idea of an iron building had come to him in a dream. 
He is also remembered for his great interest in Jerry 
McAuley's Mission, a famous rescue institution, the fore- 
runner of the present Salvation Army. The history of 
this wonderful mission forms the one bright chapter in 
the sordid story of Water Street in the days when it was 
the resort of sailors and the abode of unspeakable crime 
and wretchedness. 

When Jerry McAuley died in 1884 his wife determined 
to carry on the work alone and for eight years served 
as superintendent of the mission. Then her health failed 
and for a time it seemed she must die. Bradford Lee 
Gilbert married her at this time when her health was 
poor and took care of her. After her marriage she and 
Mr. Gilbert lived for a time at his country home on the 
Beaverkill River in Sullivan County. 

At No. 56 Broadway are statues by J. Massey Rhind 
of Clinton, Wolf, Stuyvesant and Hudson, which are 
of more than passing interest. 

Morris Street marks the original public burying 
ground of New York, and Exchange Place was formerly 
Tin Pot Alley. It runs into Edgar Street, one of the 
shortest streets in the City, where from the steps of the 
Edgar Mansion on Greenwich Street, Daniel Webster 
made an address to the people on the occasion of the 
election of the first Mayor of New York, Cornelius Law- 
rence. This marked an important political change and a 
further extension of the peoples rights, as before this. 
Mayors were appointed by the common council. 

70 




Broadway, looking north from Wall Street. Old Trinity in centre. 



Just beyond Exchange Place and West of Broadway- 
stood the land occupied by the West India Company as an 
orchard and farm. Huge office buildings, owned and oc- 
cupied by the two great Express Companies, Adams and 
the American, are now on this site. The great Empire 
Building, which extends from the corner of Broadway 
along Rector to Church Street, now belongs to the United 
States Steel Corporation, having been recently purchased 
by them for office headquarters. It stands directly op- 
posite Trinity Church and is, therefore, to enjoy good 
light for all time. The price paid for the building and 
land was $5,000,000, which is considerable money to pay 
for a place in which merely to keep books and have ef- 
ficiency conferences. 

The next building is by far the most historic and in- 
teresting edifice of a religious denomination in our city. 

Trinity Church 

Trinity is not only old in historic association, but its 
monuments and memorials are of an unusually interesting 
character. Beautiful stained-glass windows ornament 
the interior, together with several memorial tablets, in- 
cluding one to a party of Scotchmen who were ship- 
wrecked off the coast of Sandy Hook in 1783. 

The charpa of this church is not hard to understand. 
In the midst of the city's roar it still stands quiet and 
serene. It is a welcome relief to enter its hospitable 
doors for a few moments respite from the strain of the 
days work. 

This memorable building as you will notice, stands 
opposite the head of Wall Street. The present building 
is the third to be erected (1846). The first (1696) was 
destroyed in the great fire of 1776, the second (1789) 
was declared unsafe (1839) and torn down. For more 
than two hundred years the spire of Trinity was the most 
noted landmark in the city of New York. For many 

72 



years visitors were allowed to climb the many steps up 
its steeple, and their energy was well rewarded by the 
magnificent view of the city and harbor spread out before 
their eyes. 

To-day it is hard to find the steeple, so closely is it 
guarded by the surrounding skyscrapers, and it barely 
reaches to half the height of the buildings directly 
around it. It is about one-third the height of the Wool- 
worth Building, a few blocks north of it on Broadway. 
Trinity Church has played a great part in the social and 
religious life of our city, and enjoys a large place in the 
affections of the people. Many persons wonder why 
Washington selected St. Paul's Chapel instead of the 
much more noted parent church for his devotional at- 
tendance, forgetting that during Washington's residence 
in New York Trinity was still in ruins and was not re- 
built till after his departure. 

The first objects of interest which attract the visitor 
are the three pairs of memorial doors in bronze with the 
allegorical figures in bold relief. They are at the front, 
North and South entrances. They are the gift of Wil- 
liam Waldorf Astor in memory of his father, John Jacob 
Astor, 2nd. 

In the centre of the North half of the cemetery stands 
a beautiful marble church yard cross, another Astor 
memorial, given by Caroline Astor Wilson, in memory of 
her mother, Mrs. William Astor. The panels illustrate 
the life of Christ according to St. Luke. 

Entering the church yard directly from Broadway 
we stand in front of the monument erected to that gallant 
sailor. Captain James Lawrence, of "Don't give up the 
ship" fame. On the south side directly opposite is the 
monument of the Martyrs of the Revolution — those who 
died in prisons. Facing Rector Street is the memorial 
to Robert Fulton, who is buried beneath in the Livingston 
family vault, and near him is that of William Bradford, 

n 



the first printer in New York. The pathetic story of 
Charlotte Temple is recalled by the beautiful monument 
to her memory, as is also the tragic death of Alexander 
Hamilton by his imposing cenotaph. The grave of M. 
L. Davis, Aaron Burr's second in the duel, is also here. 
Marinus Willett, General Phil Kearney, Samuel John- 
son, president of King's College (now Columbia) ; Albert 
Gallatin, Augustus Van Home, Sidney Breese, Lady 
Cornbury, Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling; Gen- 
eral Clarkson, Rev. Dr. Barclay, the second of Trinity's 
rectors; the Laights, Bronsons, Ogdens, Lispenards, 
Bleeckers, Livingstons, Apthorps, Hoffmans, to mention 
only a few, all suggest prominent families still living in 
the city and whose members maintain the social im- 
portance of their forebears. 

Facing Broadway is a memorial drinking fountain, the 
gift of Henry C. Swords in memory of his mother. 

The sexton, Mr. William J. Boyd, is splendidly en- 
thusiastic about old Trinity, and can tell you of many 
things which lack of space prevents a mention here. 

We are now opposite Wall Street. We shall start our 
trip through the financial district at this point, crossing 
Broadway, going down Wall Street to the River on the 
North side and returning on the South. 

But first let us refresh ourselves with a little lunch. 
And with that end in view we will hunt up some unusual 
eating place for the sake of novelty. 



74 




THE INNER MAN 

Out of the Ordinary Eating Places in New York 

T^HE tourist no doubt would like to see some of the 
-■■ real foreign places. As a matter of fact, the best of 
these are on the lower East Side on Second Avenue, 
between 1st and 14th Streets. 

A great many of the emigrants from Russia and 
Rumania, even after years of alienation, have an intense 
craving for the dishes of their native province. It is, 
therefore, the practice of one of the inhabitants of a 
particular province to convert her front parlor (usually 
located on the ground floor of a tenement) into a minia- 
ture dining room, where she caters to a limited number 
of her home town folk. Her shingle announces the name 
of her province, such as "Pinsker," "Dwinsker," "Mnis- 
ker," "Saraslover," "Bialystokter," etc., as the case may 
be. Here the aliens meet their friends from the Old 
Country and lose their homesickness in the midst of 
familiar faces and dialects and in the odors from the 
kitchen, which evoke for them images of their home and 
surroundings. 

Near by are the famous Bohemian cafes, crowded 
every night to dawn with Yiddish artists, musicians, 
actors and litterateurs, all industriously and vehemently 
engaged in gesticulating and creating a sophisticated 
hubbub. These places are more like clubs, because the 
patrons are all habitues and known to each other. The 
cafes have added a Parisian touch with their open-air 
dining, and the guests lend an air of cosmopolitanism 
with their conversations and faces. 

75 




Underbill 
Stone Street, the first street in our city to be paved with stonet. 



Around the corner, in a wide street,, are a group of 
Italian spaghetti houses, where the serpentine food rules 
in all its tortuous forms and draws the innocent and 
unwary diner into its maze of intricacies. 

Further down is an Hungarian restaurant, serving its 
native menu in all its dressings and odors, and, cheek by 
jowl, is a Rumanian "casino," displaying its bill of fare 
au naturel — an array of uncooked dishes in a showcase 
in the window — to tempt the eyes and snare the stomach 
of the passersby. Here, too, the steaks are broiled and 
served, bloody and hot, right off the grill, on circular 
wooden platters. 

In the upper reaches of this section are the French 
pastry parlors, which cater to the elite of the younger 
set. The sumptuous surroundings of thick green carpets, 
artificial palms and little glass-topped mahogany tables 
are reflected in the high prices charged. But the East 
Side beaux disregard the extravagance if they can bask 
a little while with a pretty girl in the atmosphere of this 
fictitious affluence. 

The most interesting, however, are the vegetarian res- 
taurants. These places were started by Russian refugees 
who were disciples of Tolstoy. Flesh, fish and fowl 
are utterly taboo here. For a time the patrons were 
confined to the rigid adherents of vegetarianism, but the 
creed spread, and they are now doing a flourishing busi- 
ness. In all, there are four such places on the East 
Side. Monotony has been banished from the diet by the 
invention of ingenious dishes that stimulate in name, 
taste and form the forbidden meat dishes, but the sub- 
stance remains faithfully vegetarian. 

While these places are interesting to read about, it 
must be borne in mind that some of them are not attrac- 
tive; but of course they are novel and malodorous. They 
are quite thick along Second Avenue, sometimes as many 
as three on a block. 

n 



French cooking is a feature of nearly every first class 
hotel, and there is no difficulty in obtaining strictly 
French dishes, even to snails, prepared by a French chef 
in any of the de luxe hotels or restaurants, like the 
Biltmore or the Vanderbilt. The Cafe Lafayette, Bre- 
voort and Mouqin's are three leading French restaurants. 

Italian restaurants are everywhere in evidence. Guf- 
fanti's, on Seventh Avenue near the Pennsylvania Sta- 
tion; Gonfarone's, on Waverly Place; Enrico's, on 12th 
Street. See back of book for more complete list. 

The most famous of the Hungarian restaurants is, of 
course, "Little Hungary/' quite a favorite with the late 
Colonel Roosevelt and brought into great notoriety by 
the dinner he attended there after his first election in 
payment of a promise to the proprietor. It is the proper 
place to go for the tourist, and although there are many 
others, such as Cafe Boheme and Earth's, Little Hun- 
gary leads them all. 

The Americain Hotel, on 14th Street near Sixth Ave- 
nue, is a good Spanish restaurant. The portions are 
numerous and generous and price medium. There are 
others on the same block. They are small places, how- 
ever, for local trade only. Uptown in the neighborhood 
of 72nd Street and Riverside Drive, is another Spanish 
section. 

A typical Russian restaurant is the Russian Inn, at 
57 West 37th Street. It is much frequented by Rus- 
sians and here the conversation is all about Russia. The 
waitresses are in peasant costume; embroidered blouses 
with puffed sleeves, white aprons over colored skirts, 
strings of tinted beads wound about the throat several 
times. At the Sunday dinner there is Russian music. 
This is an attractive place, slightly artificial. 

The fad for Chop Suey and for Chinese restaurants 
still persists. The Tokio and Pekin, in the White Light 
district^ being the most prominent and most expensive. 

78 




Parade of the Striking Actors on Broadway, 



U. & U. 



There are live quite orthodox Chinese restaurants in 
Chinatown. They are ostensibly Chinese owned and 
managed by Chinese. The real proprietors, however, 
are Cohen and Rosenthal, so you can draw your own 
conclusions. Few homegrown Chinese take nourishment 
in these places, because they feel kind of- out of place 
and they hate to break in on the nice white people from 
upto^vn and Brooklyn. But the waiters are all Chinese, 
for the same reason that the walls have Chinese dragon 
tapestry. The lights are shrouded in fantastic shades, 
and the place is redolent with the perfume of fire 
cracker punk, which exhales a not unpleasant odor. The 
prices are not moderate. 

The Armenian restaurant, 323 Fourth Avenue, serves 
lamb in the forty orthodox ways demanded by this race, 
also vine leaves, rice and wheat, pilat, etc. — a very good 
restaurant, moderate in price and worth while going to 
see if you care for a real, genuine Armenian meal such 
as the native demands. 

Mendel's restaurant, in the Grand Central Terminal, 
serves an Oyster Stew that is famous throughout the 
country, many strangers as well as New Yorkers, 
having partaken of the delectable dish. 

On Lexington Avenue near 23rd Street there is a 
good typical native Bulgarian restaurant. 

There are many other novel places in which the strang- 
er can dine and experience complete change from the 
ordinary hotel or restaurants. Yon also get acquainted 
with the "local color." In most of these "out of the usual 
haunts" there is some special quality about the cooking 
that attracts. Two sisters from Detroit, for instance, 
serve a Simday night buffet supper in an old house they 
have rented at 20 East o4th Street. After the price 
per head has been paid each guest helps himself to the 
croquettes, patties, salads, cold cuts, cheese sandwiches. 
The furnishings are unique and a visit is rather a novelty. 

At the Blue Plate, 56 West 50th Street, a 50 cent 

80 



luncheon is served, and dinner at 75 cents. ^leals are 
served from blue plate old English -vvillovr ware. The 
proprietor came from the West, where he turned away 
disappointed crowds every evening. The steaks, baked 
Virginia ham and other dishes made his reputation. 

Marie Antoinette's Tea Room, at 128 West 72nd 
Street, makes a specialty of tea and waffles. There is 
a table d'hote luncheon for 75 cents and a dinner for 
$1.25, consisting of Creole soup, braised chicken, ham 
and eggs, ice cream, pie, and demi-tasse. Southern cook- 
ing is the attraction here. The Desire, at 17 West 
S9th Street, serves a nice luncheon for 55 cents and din- 
ner for 65 cents. The French pastry of their own 
cooking is famous. The Samovar, at 6 East S6th Street, 
specializes in New England cooking and serves Boston 
baked beans, baked ham., waffles, and its famous pumpkin 
pie, standing at least an inch high in its crispy browned 
crust. Luncheon is 60 cents and 75c and dinner $1.00. 
The People's House Cafeteria, at 7 East 15th Street, 
with its green stained chairs and tables, is quite a pecu- 
liar place. It is modeled after some of the famous 
People's houses abroad. Any profit that comes from 
the food is turned back for the good of the place and 
the people frequenting it. The very reasonableness of 
the prices in these days makes one gasp. Tea, 7 cents a 
pot, vegetables, 8 cents, ice cream, 12 cents. One can 
eat here at reasonable expense. The California Kitchen, 
at 28 East 61st Street, with its scarlet high backed 
benches, Chinese scarlet hangings against the restful 
gray of the walls, is a nice place to dine. The light 
falls from great lanterns in a soft pleasing glow. A 
meat with vegetables, a salad with dressing, cherry pie, 
and demi-tasse for 50 cents is the luncheon. Dinner 
is 90 cents. As a bit from our Far West, this nook 
is interesting. Aunt Clemmy's, at 1 University Place, in 
the "Village," gives us sure enough Virginia cooking. 
Fruit pies, pumpkin pies, mince pies, made to order. 

81 



Cabarets 

For some time, the old-fashioned dinner with its social 
and intimate conversation has been a thing of the past. 
Nowadays when you have finished your oysters your 
partner grabs you and shimmies around till he sees that 
soup is served. In the meantime, all the wicky-wicky 
boys and girls in grass skirts cavort around the open 
space you have just abandoned to the tune of countless 
ukuleles, tom-toms and clanking castanets. In a few mo- 
ments the performers disappear, your soup has been 
served, and there is time for another whirl before the 
fish comes, and you whirl. All of which is vastly dif- 
ferent from the good old days we formerly sighed for 
and which we are now likely to get back, just as we 
have become accustomed to the other. It must be con- 
ceded that the lights, the music, the brilliancy all go 
to make up a rather enjoyable scene. It is certainly 
different from what one sees at home and the novelty 
charms. Quite a competition has grown up among the 
various cabarets, and very elaborate programmes are now 
nightly given in most of the more pretentious places. 

All kinds of attractive names are selected for the 
various rooms in which these performances are given, 
and many of them are most luxuriously and lavishly de- 
signed. It would be hard to find a more artistic creation 
than the Crystal Cascade at the Biltmore, the Cocoanut 
Grove at the Century Theatre, Murray's Roman Gardens 
or the Orange Glades at Healey's, to say nothing of a 
dozen others. Dining at restaurants is a custom much 
more largely the vogue in New York than in other cities, 
and naturally many inducements are held out to attract 
business, hence the ornate furnishings, delightful music 

Having refreshed the inner man, we will now resume 
our trip where we left off and cross Broadway from 
Trinity Church and proceed through the Financial 
District. 

82 




THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT 

WALL STREET, THE BEST KNOWN HALF MILE 
IN THE WORLD 



THE VARIOUS EXCHANGES; WHERE WASHINGTON TOOK LEAVE OF 

HIS officers; sons of THE revolution; petticoat lane; 
THE curb; the pit; king cotton; four century old 

banks; ALEXANDER HAMILTON; NEW YORK, THE 
capital of THE UNITED STATES, (1789) ; IN- 
AUGURATION OF WASHINGTON AS FIRST 
PRESIDENT. 

/^F the four streets in New York known the world over 
^^ — Broadway, Fifth Avenue, the Bowery and Wall 
Street — the latter is by far the most famous. News- 
papers in every section of civilization print its name 
in every issue, and the Wall Street column has a larger 
number of daily readers than any other item printed. 
For a street less than half a mile long and but little 
more than thirty feet wide, its importance is altogether 
disproportionate to its mere physical size. It does not 
lack dignity, however, both sides being lined with build- 
ings of the most costly and imposing character. Aside 
from its fame as the greatest of all financial centres, 
the street derives piquancy and zest from the thrills and 
excitement of meeting face to face most of the men 
whose names are familiar to the reading public. 

84 



All the great captains of industry ; the capitalists 
whose every move is recorded by the press ; distinguished 
visitors from foreign countries; railroad presidents, 
various dignitaries in the shape of steel kings, rubber 
kings, sugar kings, oil kings and lesser members of the 
royal families of commerce and manufacture may all be 
seen here. The comings and goings of J. P. Morgan 
are always moments of delightful excitement to the 
visitor and something to speak about when he gets back 
home. Mr. Morgan's photograph is so frequently print- 
ed that he is easily recognized. The same is true of 
Mr. Rockefeller. With these two exceptions, most of 
the big men, though well known by name to the average 
reader, cannot very well be identified from the occasional 
portraits that appear. Business, however, brings them 
constantly on the street, and they are everywhere in 
evidence. 

But to begin our trip in an orderly fashion. At num- 
ber one is the First National Bank, known in financial 
circles as "Fort Sherman," because of the important 
part played by it during the resumption of specie pay- 
ments when John Sherman was Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. The office building adjoining, the Schermerhorn, 
is an Astor building. At number ten stood a very noted 
church in its day, the old First Presbyterian Meeting 
House, where Jonathan Edwards preached, as did also 
George Whitfield. It was used as a hospital by the Brit- 
ish in the Revolution. It was called a meeting house, 
we are told, because when it was built, in 1719, only 
the Dutch Reformed and the established Church of 
England were permitted to have churches. Other places 
of worship were houses, and to keep up this legal fiction 
they had to be provided with fireplaces. We are also 
told that the fireplaces were never used, since in those 
primitive days anything conducive to comfort in the 
sanctuary was considered a contrivance of the devil. 

85 



m^m^^mmm 




*-iIF? 




Rare view of Wall Street from Broad Street, 1S25. Simmons* 
Tavern and the old Presbyterian Church on 
the right. Trinity Church at head. 
From Stokes' Iconography of New York. 



The next building, a magnificent 40-story structure, 
which extends to the corner, is the well known Bankers' 
Trust Company. It occupies the site on which stood 
the modest wooden building kept by John Simmons as 
a tavern, and a famous one, too, as Simmons was a 
friend of both Henry Brevoort and Washington Irving. 
But of much greater importance is the fact that to 
Simmons' Tavern came the Common Council of New 
York in 1784 to elect James Duane the first Mayor of 
the newly organized city. 

Across Nassau Street, directly opposite the Bankers' 
Trust Company, is the United States Sub-Treasury — 
easily recognized by the massive bronze statue of Wash- 
ington in the centre of the steps. 

This is easily one of the most interesting sites in all 
New York, and the loss of the original building is now 
recognized to be one of the most deplorable occurrences 
in local history, for here stood the first City Hall 
(1699), built by the English. Eighty-nine years later 
this same building, but greatly altered, became the first 
Capitol of the United States of America. 

In its Colonial days, the Cage, Pillory, Stocks and 
Whipping Post stood in front of the entrance. The 
interior contained a Court Room, the Common Council's 
Chamber, the jail, a volunteer fire department, a debtors' 
prison and a small public library. Many of the books 
in this collection were lost or destroyed during the Revo- 
lution, but the remainder were saved and a society 
formed to preserve and add to the balance. Out of 
this effort grew our present Society Library on Uni- 
versity Place, the oldest institution of its kind in New 
York. 

]\Iany historical and epoch making events occurred in 
this old building during its lifetime. Here was won Peter 
Zenger's celebrated victory over the Royal Government in- 
suring ever after the freedom of the press ; a trial which 

87 



'^r%^?^^ 



1 



*-^i4jP 






Where Washington was inaugurated 1789. Federal Hall, corner 
Wall and Nassau Streets, present site Sub-Treasury Building 



r 


• ■ 




^g/ 


s 


Q 


H^WS^^w^ 


ihbH^^ 






^Hfcp 





Washington arriving at New York for his Inauguration, 
April. 1789. 



was closely followed by Benjamin Franklin, Samuel 
Adams and other Revolutionary leaders. It marked a 
tremendously forward step in the struggle for Independ- 
ence. The Stamp Act Congress also convened within 
these walls and armed resistance to the Crown was only 
avoided by the prompt compliance of the government to 
the demand of this Congress for the surrender of the 
obnoxious stamps forthwith. Truly a storm was ap- 
proaching, but the German King on an English throne 
had eyes that saw not and ears that heard not. In 1785 
it was used as the State Capitol and here the Continental 
Congress met. Every day in the corridors could be seen 
such men as John Hancock, James Monroe, Benjamin 
Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and other distinguished 
citizens. 

When it was seen that the Continental Congress would 
shortly begin the formation of a permanent national 
government. New York, under the guidance of Alexandei 
Hamilton, began at once a campaign to secure the loca- 
tion of the Federal capitol in this city. 

Extensive alterations in the City Hall were made under 
plans prepared by Major L'Enfant (who afterwards 
gained fame as the designer of the present capitol at 
Washington), and a practically new building was the 
result. It was then offered to the Continental Congress 
as a permanent home for the cajDitol. This offer was 
accepted. Congress and the Senate convened here to 
elect the first president. Their choice fell upon General 
Washington, who was accordingly inaugurated here in 
April, 1789. 

"In a few minutes Washington stepped upon 
the balcony fronting on Wall Street. For an instant 
he stood in full sight of the assembled multitude 
but the wild outburst of cheering which greeted his 
appearance drove him a step backward visibly 
affected. He was dressed in a suit of dark brown 
cloth with metal buttons ornamented with eagles, 
his stockings were white silk and his shoebuckles 
silver. At his side he carried a simple steel hilted 

89 



dreuo sword; his powdered hair was worn in a 
queue, the fa,shion of the times. Close behind him 
stoo;! Chancellor Robert Livingston wearing his 
official lobe. Grouped about these two men stood 
John Adams. George Clinton, Roger Sherman, 
Baron Steuben, Samuel Otis, Richard Henry Lee, 
General Arthur St. Clair and General Knox. Behind 
them but not visible from the street stood members 
of Congress and distinguished witnesses. Alexander 
Hamilton witnessed the scene from the window of 
his house opposite (now part of the Morgan Bank). 
There was a moment's pause as the company 
took their positions and then Samuel Otis, the 
Secretary of State, carrying a crimson cushion on 
which rested the Bible, presented it to the Chan- 
cellor, who administered the oath, whereupon 
Washington kissed the book and the official procla- 
mation, "Long live George Washington, President 
of the United States" ended with a crash of artil- 
lery and a renewed burst of cheering. Such was 
the day of giory which m.ade New York the capi- 
tol of the nation." — Trevor Hill. 

The statue on the steps of the present Sub-Treasury 
building represents Washington in the exact position in 
which he stood when repeating the oath of office. Part 
of the railing on which his hand rested during the 
ceremony is to be seen in the rooms of the New York 
Historical Society and a section of the brown stone slab 
on which he stood has been fortunately preserved and 
is enclosed in a bronze glass frame. It is inside the 
building and can be seen on the south w^all. 

The Government did not long remain in New York, 
but before it was removed, Washington enacted several 
important measures which would have distinguished this 
building above all others in the country had it been pre- 
served. He signed the bill creating the Supreme Court 
of the United States. He issued to Thomas Jefferson, 
author of the Declaration of Independence, his commis- 
sion as Minister to France. Aaron Burr was elected 
to the Senate in this hall, and all the extremely important 
creative measures attending the birth of the new Repub- 
lic here first saw the light of day. Apparently the im- 
portance of the building was never understood or appre- 
ciated, for after a short period during w^hich it was 

90 



occupied as the State capitol, the structure was allowed 
to fall into disrepair. It was shorn of its interesting 
portico and arcade and turned into a general utility 
building, containing the Custom House, brokers' offices 
and other tenants. Its ancient glory had departed. The 
new Government House on Bowling Green, completed 
about this time, served to detract public interest from 
this fine old Colonial relic and in a few years it was 
demolished. So disappeared this most romantic and 
historical building in all New York and the Sub-Treas- 
ury you now see, rose in its place. 

Two other events are worth recording before the cur- 
tain is rung down on the final scene. In 1 804 John Pin- 
tard and his friends organized within its walls the New 
York Historical Society which today occupies a million 
dollar building of its own in Central Park West; and the 
Chamber of Commerce, now our most influential business 
organization, used it as a meeting place. 

The Sub-Treasury is one of the buildings which will 
provide a most interesting item in the day's record. 
Startling scenes are frequently witnessed. It is not at 
all unusual to see a dozen heavily guarded express wag- 
ons drive up loaded with many millions in gold from 
London or Paris. Untold wealth is always in evidence, 
either going out or coming in, and the half hour spent 
looking it over is sure to be a pleasant experience. It 
is open from 10 A. M. to 3 P. M. In order to see the 
vaults wherein is stored bullion amounting to many hun- 
dred millions, it is desirable to obtain a card of intro- 
duction from a New York bank. 

Adjoining the Sub-Treasury until recently stood the 
building well remembered as the old Assay Office. It 
was originally erected to house the New York Branch 
of the Bank of the United States. After President 
Jackson had succeeded in killing "The Bank" and had 
also ruined half the country in the process, the building 

92 



was let to private parties. At one time it was occupied 
by Henry Clews and Company and others. Then it 
became the Assay Office. The facade of this building, 
a rare piece of classical design, has fortunately been 
preserved by a public spirited New Yorker, Mr. I. N. 
Phelps Stokes, the well known architect. At some future 
time it may again adorn some appropriate building and 
recall the story days of "Old Hickory" in finance. 

The site of the next building, the fifth west of Wil- 
liam Street, has been occupied for a hundred and twenty 
years by the Manliattan Company, which purchased the 
plot in 1799. This bank was originally organized as 
a water company and for years rejoiced in the posses- 
sion of a statue which gazed complacently at the passers- 
by from a perch on the roof. It was supposed to repre- 
sent Oceanus (not Bacchus) reclining in a comfortable 
position and pouring water out of a jar, probably in- 
tended to be symbolic of the blessings so generously 
bestowed by the company upon the thirsty populace. 
When the Croton project was being agitated Recorder 
Riker opposed the enterprise, contending that the water 
furnished by the Manhattan Company wa,s good enough 
for anyone and in proof of the assertion adduced the 
fact that he drank a tumbler of it every morning. The 
rest of those present, while applauding the reckless cour- 
age of Mr. Riker, decided to protect the good man 
from himself and unanimously voted to build the Croton 
Aqueduct. 

Going along the street to the corner of William Street, 
we pass four century old banks in a row. No. 46, on the 
corner of William Street, was leased by the Bank of 
New York about 1798 as the residence of its cashier, 
whose son, Charles Wilkes, junior, as Commander Wilkes 
of the U. S. Navy, became famous in the Civil War for 
the seizure of Mason and Slidell, Confederate Commis- 
sioners to Great Britain. The same site, some years 

94 



previous, was the residence of Major Nathaniel Pendle- 
ton of the Continental Army, who was one of General 
Hamilton's seconds at the fatal duel with Burr. 

On the northeast corner of William and Wall, near 
where once stood a marble statue of William Pitt, now in 
the Historical Society's custody, is the oldest one of them 
all, the Bank of New York. The second oldest is the 
Bank of Manhattan. The third is the Merchants' Bank, 
and the fourth the Bank of America. The first was 
organized by Alexander Hamilton and the second by 
Aaron Burr, and recalls the rivalry between the two 
men. At 48 Wall Street is a tablet to mark the site 
of one of the bastions that stood in the wall at this point. 

Down Wall Street as far as Pearl Street, the financial 
and banking houses continue in evidence, one having 
a tablet to mark the first office devoted to the business 
of life insurance in this country. This business was 
introduced by Morris Robinson, a Scotchman from Can- 
ada. A few doors below the insurance company once 
stood the house in which Captain Kidd resided for some 
time. Just before Pearl is the Seaman's Bank for Sav- 
ings. Beyond Pearl Street is the Tontine Building, 
which recalls the Tontine Coffee House, a famous meet- 
ing place of the merchants of Old New York and where 
the Stock Exchange originated. The first meeting place 
of the latter was under a now famous buttonwood tree 
in front of No. 70. A few exporters still occupy the 
remaining buildings of the street, but these are of no 
historical importance, beyond the fact that they face 
what was at one time a slave market, as the extra width 
of the street at this point will serve to indicate. 

The East River and South Street are just in front 
of us and across the river can be seen Brooklyn Heights, 
at one time a very fashionable residential section, but 
now largely abandoned by its old families and given 
over to hotels and boarding houses. 

96 



_ Crossing to the South side of Wall Street and retrac- 
ing our steps to Broadway, we eome upon the offices ^of 
the American Sugar Refining Company. Office buildings 
of the great coffee and sugar interests now succeed each 
ereT^"*? '° ""=/"™'='- "^ P^^^l Street, where a tablet 
T.T^^^'^ \^°^'^ ^^«" St-eet Patriotic Association 
ma ks the location of another famous pre-Revolutionary 
bmldmg-the old Merchants' Coffee House. Many fa- 
rnous conferences were held here by the patriots before 
«e breaking out of actual hostilities, and plans perfected 
winch had important results. Hamilton organized the 
Bank of Aew York here Murray's Wharf came up to 

Wn hi'" /""f .'" ,"''''" "^^y^ ^"-J it ^^» ''"e that 
^\ashington landed when he came from Mt. Vernon to 
be inaugurated. The tablet gives a full history of the 
Coftee House which was a remarkably important build- 
ing historically. A painting of it has fortunately been 

SocietT '"^•'' ^^ ''"'" "' **" ^"^ ^'"'^ Historical 

Important financial institutions, including the old Bal- 
imore firm of Brown Tros. & Co., succeed each other, 
til we come to one ol the most prominent banks in 
the country, the National City Bank, occupying what 
IS probably the largest and costliest premises 1 the 
country devoted to financial business. The building was 
formerly the United States Custom House, and was 

dest :' T. ''•:," V "'t-'g'-l Merchants' Exchange, 
destroyed m the Great Fire of 1835. The building is 
impressive by its massive proportions and dominates 
the section on which it stands. Adjoining the City Bank 
.s the old Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. 'one "f 
Stites 'T^Ji r'""' i'^^l^auce companies; the United 
Mates Trust Company, the Equitable Trust; O G Orr 
insurance, and other well known institutions. ' Part of 
the site of the next building is associated with one of 
the greatest of all New Yorkers, General Alexande 



98 



Hamilton. He owned an L-shaped piece of land extend- 
ing from No. 35 Wall Street around into Broad Street. 
There is some dispute as to which street his residence 
fronted, but the General's grandson and biographer. Dr. 
Allan McLane Hamilton, says Wall Street. About 1792 
he sold the property, or at least the Wall Street part 
of it, to Gulian Verplank, who resided there till his 
death in 1799. At that time he was president of the 
Bank of New York. 

Next comes perhaps the most widely known bank in 
the world — that of J. P. Morgan & Co., housed in a 
low, impressive, classic looking structure on the corner 
of Wall and Broad Streets, the last 30 feet of which is 
on the Hamilton site just mentioned. 

This corner later became police headquarters, with Mr. 
Jacob Hays as High Constable, the title corresponding 
with that of Police Commissioner today. 

From the prominence of his position and the remark- 
able vigor and judgment with which he discharged the 
duties of his office. High Constable Hays became the 
best known citizen in New York. He is often portrayed 
as a comic figure, but such characterization is unjust, 
for not only did he enjoy universal respect, from the 
law-abiding and from the criminal as well, but he also 
possessed (and deserved) an international reputation as 
the ablest police officer in America and the equal of any 
in Europe. Appointed by Mayor Livingston in 1802, 
he was reappointed by each succeeding Mayor until his 
death in 1850, at the advanced age of seventy-eight. 

The first building on the Kidder Peabody corner op- 
posite was a Dutch house with a gable toward the street, 
from the stoop of which in 1795 Alexander Hamilton 
made a speech advocating the Jay treaty with England. 
He evidently spoke with less persuasiveness than usual, 
for the applause he received was a shower of stones. 

99 




-""'?^'"r^ x_.rtv among the Bankers and Brokers in Broad Street 
iicker tape and snow storms of torn paper filled the 
TT o TT ^^^ ' ' "^y ^°"S- The crowds were enormous. 
U. & U. 



It is not generally known that Washington Irving 
was a lawyer, but a full-fledged attorney he was_, hav- 
ing received his training in the office of Josiah Ogden 
Hoffman. He and his brother, John T. Irving, had 
an office in the building on the east corner of New 
Street, and it was here that Irving received a generous 
offer from Mr. George P. Putnam to become his pub- 
lisher. In his delight at this good turn in his fortunes, 
Irving kicked over the desk in front of him and cried: 
"There is no necessity, John, of my bothering any fur- 
ther with the law. Here is a fool publisher willing to 
give me a thousand dollars a year for doing nothing." 
The connection thus formed continued till Irving's death 
in 1859 and proved much more remunerative than the 
sum quoted. To this day the Putnams have been the 
logical publishers for everything connected with Irving. 

At the same address is found another brother. Dr. 
Peter Irving, M. D. This was in 1807, '09 and '10. 
A few years later on one of the New Street corners, 
probably the same building, was the bookstore of Charles 
Wiley and Company, a favorite resort of Halleck, 
Bryant, Paulding, Irving, Drake and other literary men 
of the time. 

Just below the New Street corner is the Wall Street 
entrance to the Stock Exchange, easily the most talked 
of institution in the financial district. It is fully de- 
scribed in the pages relating to Broad Street, which is 
its official location and principal entrance. 

The lure of the Stock Exchange, the marvellous tales 
of enormous riches acquired in the twinkling of an eye, 
are as you see, not the only things that invest Wall 
Street with its absorbing interest for the general public. 
Some of these yarns are palpable inventions, but they 

101 



make good stories and will continue to be printed, but 
Wall Street as the world's financial centre has a serious 
role to enact and performs its part with commendable 
sincerity and undoubted ability. 

Wall Street is so short that one can walk down one 
side and up the other in less than twenty minutes. Make 
a few notes of the places you particularly wish to see 
and It will add greatly to your pleasure, as you can 
go about with a definite plan in view. Admission to 
the Stock Exchange and the Sub-Treasury is by ticket 
but almost any banker or broker will provide you with 
that upon request. There is nothing particular to see 
m private places like the National City Bank or Mor- 
gan's, but you can step inside and polite attention will 
be paid you and part of the interior shown. 

Everywhere in New York, if a stranger expresses a 
desire to see more or know more of a certain building 
he will find an attendant who will try to meet his wishes 
as far as consistent with business. As one of the most 
talked-of thoroughfares in the world "the Street," as 
Wall Street is colloquially known, will more than repay 
the time spent within its romantic and interesting bounds. 
It is an express station on the subways and easily 
reached from all parts of town. 

^ The utter desertion of downtown streets after six 
o clock is something unbelievable. In the financial dis- 
trict, especially along lower Broadway, one's footsteps 
echo and re-echo among the tall buildings. Nor is the 
lonely pedestrian so much alone as he thinks. Countless 
prying eyes keep the wayfarer under close surveillance 
till he proves his harmlessness by boarding a subway or 
street-car bound for Brooklyn or the Bronx. 



102 




Broad Street, north to U. S. Sub-Treasury in Wall Street, 
crowd on the street is the "Curb" Market 
American Studios 



The 




Fraunces' Tavern, Broad and Pearl Streets, where Washington 
took farewell of his officers 1784 



IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF WASHINGTON 

Fraunces' Tavern; Broad Street; "The Curb"; The 
"Pit", etc. The Stock Exchange; Cotton 
Exchange, etc., etc. 
T OOKING down Broad Street to Pearl from the steps 
^-^ of the Sub-Treasury, stands what is regarded by 
many as easily the most interesting building in all New 
York, Fraunces' Tavern. At all events it is one of those 
most intimately connected with Washington. Here on 
December 4th, 1783, the Commander-in-Chief of the 
American armies met his old comrades in the field. The 
War was over. "Swords must now be turned into plow- 
shares and knives into pruning hooks." Washington, like 
Cincinnatus must go back to his farm. 

Forty- four officers were present on this memorable 
occasion, including. Generals Greene, Knox, Wayne, 
Steuben, Carroll, Lincoln, Kosciusko, Moultrie and 
Hamilton. Governor Clinton, Colonel Tallm^dge and 
others. 

104 



By rare good fortune we are able to describe this won- 
derful event by one who was present at the ceremony 
in person and who afterwards recorded it in his journal. 
This interesting account in its original form is still in 
possession of the Tavern and can be seen upon applica- 
tion to the Society of the Sons of the Revolution. It is 
by Colonel Tallmadge who was on the staff of Washing- 
ton. It was a descendant of this Revolutionary officer 
who presented the building to the Sons, as will be told 
later on. 

Col. Tallmadge thus describes the Farewell meeting: 

"We had been assembled but a few minutes 
when His Excellency entered the room. His 
emotion, too strong to be concealed, seemed . to be 
reciprocated by every officer present. After par- 
taking of a slight refreshment amid almost breath- 
less silence, the General filled his glass with wine 
and turning to his officers said: 'With a heart full 
of love and gratitude I must now take my leave 
of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days 
may be as prosperous and happy as your former 
ones have been glorious and honorable.' After the 
officers had taken a glass of wine, the General 
added: 'I cannot come to each of you to take my 
leave, but shall be obliged to you if each will come 
and take me by the hand.' General Knox, being 
nearest to him, turned to the Commander-in-Chief, 
who, suffused in tears, was incapable of utterance, 
but grasped his hand, when they embraced each 
other in silence. In the same affectionate manner 
every officer in the room marched up to, kissed 
and parted with his General-in-Chief. Such a scene 
of sorrow and weeping I had never before wit- 
nessed, and hope I may never be called upon to 
witness again. Not a word was uttered to break 
the solemn silence that prevailed, or to interrupt 
the tenderness of the occasion." 

Upon the conclusion of the leave taking General Wash- 
ington slowly walked down the room, descended the 
stairs and was soon embarked on a barge at Whitehall 
Ferry on his way to Annapolis to resign his commission. 
The "Long Room," in which this affecting scene occur- 
red, occupies the second floor of the Tavern and has been 
lovingly restored to look exactly the same today as it 

105 



appeared upon that memorable occasion. In addition to 
its own interest as an historic shrine, it contains many 
interesting relics pertaining to the "time that tried men's 
souls." 

The building is owned by the Sons of the Revolution. 
The original structure was built in 1719 as a private 
dwelling house for Etienne de Lancey, a prominent mer- 
chant of old New York, early in the eighteenth century. 

It finally passed through the usual experience of the 
old New York house after its youth is spent. Business 
creeps in and the respectability of the neighborhood in 
a social sense, departs. Col. Joseph Robinson leased 
the place in 1757 and in 1759 it was bought by de 
Lancey Robinson & Company (James Parker) and used 
as a general store. 

Some years later, 1762, Samuel Fraunces, who after- 
wards became steward for Washington while President, 
bought the place and turned it into an "ordinary" which 
he named after the young consort of George III., 
"Queen's Head Tavern," hanging out doubtless a swing- 
ing sign with an impossible portrait, as was the custom 
in those days. During the war the roof was struck by 
a shot from the British man-of-war Asia. 

In 1768 in the same room in which Washington parted 
from his officers was again the scene of a notable oc- 
curence. A number of merchants met here and organized 
the present New York Chamber of Commerce. They 
elected Mr. John Cruger, President. This is the only 
public body now in New York which existed before the 
Revolution. During the troublesome days that preceded 
the war for Independence the old tavern was very busy. 
The Sons of Liberty and the Vigilance Committee met 
here at various times; notably when the ship London 
docked at the wharf with tea on board, in defiance of the 
Non-Importation agreement. The meeting resulted in 
the members boarding the vessel at the dock and throw- 

106 



ing the tea overboard. This was New York's tea party 
and preceded the Boston Tea Party by quite a little while. 

The Continental Congress was virtually the outgrowth 
of the work of the Committee on Correspondence which 
met and conducted its labors from this building. Gov- 
ernor Clinton gave a banquet on Evacuation Day to Gen- 
eral Washington and many of his military staff. In 
1844 the last important event occurred but one — the 
founding of the New York Yacht Club. 

After 1844 it fell upon evil days and became a 
saloon patronized by teamsters and longshoremen. It 
seemed well on the way to an ignominous ending when 
a renaissance of the Revolutionary spirit was suddenly 
aroused in 1888 by the celebration of the 100th Anni- 
versary of Washington's Farewell. As a result a new 
society was formed — and in the same identical room in 
which the event occurred which they were celebrating. 
This was the Sons of the Revolution, a patriotic organiza- 
tion, devoted to the purpose of keeping alive the best 
traditions of the spirit of '76, now having members in 
every city and known all over the union. 

The Society had not been long in existence before it 
began to agitate for the preservation by the city of this 
historic building and to plead for its restoration to its 
former state of grandeur. The City was still consider- 
ing the subject when the Sons of the Revolution, through 
a generous bequest left by Mr. Frederick Samuel Tall- 
madge, one of its members, and a descendant of Col. 
Tallmadge, was enabled to secure the building for itself. 

With this importation consummation achieved the So- 
ciety at once prepared plans for a complete restoration 
of the building. In this it has been fully successful; 
the tavern today is exactly as it was in Washington's 
time. 

It is quite popular as a resort for "Honeymooners". 
The Society gladly welcomes visitors and a restaurant 

107 



has been provided so that strangers may dine there while 
inspecting the famous old Tavern. An attendant in 
powdered wig, knee breeches, silk stockings and slippers 
imparts quite a Colonial atmosphere which is much en- 
joyed by the visitor. Prices at the restaurant are no 
higher than elsewhere and a lunch or dinner here provides 
an additional pleasant experience that will long be re- 
membered in your red letter day of your visit to New 
York. 

Coming out of the Tavern and its memories of bygone 
days, we are almost startled by the sudden transition 
into modern life. This is emphasized by the appearance 
of the famous "Curb" market, that curious assemblage 
of outdoor brokers whose market place is not far from 
the old Tavern. Day in and day out, rain or shine, 
business proceeds without interruption in the open air 
by this novel organization. Costumes change, according 
to the vagaries of the weather, but nothing interferes with 
business. The buildings on both sides of the street di- 
rectly opposite the crowd are filled with clerks signalling 
orders or receiving messages from the Curb. Dozens of 
telephones with an attendant at each can be plainly seen 
from the sidewalk and the frantic motions of the oper- 
ators trying to deliver urgent orders form one of the 
illuminating features of life on the Curb. 

The first phenomenon that piques the curiosity of 
the innocent "wayfarer is the meaning and purpose of 
the finger signs. For the most part, they denote price. 
They do not convey the full prices. That is supposed 
to be known. If a stock is selling at 89 1/8, all that 
will be indicated by the hands will be the eighth. The 
hand turned up means "bid" or what somebody is will- 
ing to pay for the stock; the hand turned down means 
"offered," or what somebody is willing to sell it for. 
The index finger, pointing up, means one-eighth of a 
point bid ; two fingers a quarter ; three fingers, three- 

108 




Looking down Broad Street from Wall. Stock Exchange on right. 
Underbill 



eights, and so on to more complicated signals. Point- 
ing down, the fingers indicate the fraction of a point 
offered. 

The multi-colored hats worn by these people are not 
adopted as a mark of eccentricity, but for the severely 
practical purpose of making recognition easy by any indi- 
vidual in the windows of the firm whom he represents. 

Romance is thick these days on the Curb. Men have 
gone there poor, wrecks, failures, borrowing quarters 
and dimes for lunch; have bought some engraved certi- 
ficates that nobody else wanted, have prospered, put on 
good clothes, worn diamonds, driven automobiles, dined 
m the finest hotels, kept chauffeurs and country estates 
and yachts, kept on trading and gone back again to 
borrowing quarters and dimes for lunch. 

Leaving the Curb we are soon in front of the impos- 
ing, many pillared building of the Stock Exchange. 
All the sightseeing buses stop here, as well as at other 
interesting points in this section. Admission to the 
Stock Exchange is now restricted; a card of introduc- 
tion may, however, be easily obtained either from your 
own banker or by request from most of the larger broker- 
age houses in the neighborhood. The interior of the 
building is like a large theatre without seats. Visitors 
view the "floor" from a gallery. Scattered throughout 
the floor are various posts labelled "Steel," "Union 
Pacific," "Sugar," "Tobacco," etc., etc. Around these 
posts gather the brokers who specialize in these par- 
ticular stocks. Nowadays the number of securities listed 
on 'Change, as they call it, is so great that no one 
broker professes to know them all intimately. The 
tendency is to make a study of one or two stocks and 
follow their movements closely. On the wall is a huge 
blackboard on which numbers appear and disappear con- 
tinually. These are signals indicating that a telephone 
or telegram has been received for such and such a mera- 

110 



ber whose number corresponds with the one flashed 
on the board. The member at once repairs to his tele- 
phone booth or looks for the appearance of the mes- 
senger who is sure to be looking for him on the floor. 
Seconds are precious in the Stock Exchange and none 
are lost needlessly. . 

Except in times of great financial excitement, the scene 
in the Exchange is that of an orderly, well conducted 
organization. Members move about from post to post, 
stop to chat with each other or sit down on the sofas 
that encircle the posts. Ever and anon the Chairman 
raps for order, reads some announcement, and the rou- 
tine is resumed. Save for this occasional interruption 
the steady hum of conversation continues till the sound 
of the bell at 3 o'clock, ending the day's session. 

At other times, when some tragic happening has oc- 
curred to upset the financial world, like the late war 
or the assassination of a President, the scene beggars 
description. Pandemonium is let loose and the scene of 
confusion and excitement is something that will remain 
in the spectator's mind for a lifetime. The galleries 
are soon filled to capacity. There seems to be some- 
thing irresistibly fascinating in watching the wiping out 
of a fortune. You are aware that the millionaire of the 
morning is the pauper of the night. You almost see 
great wealth in the very act of dissolution. Ruin and 
misery will follow in its train. Great families will go 
down in despair. Yet you hang on and cannot tear 
yourself away from the frightful spectacle. It is a sin- 
gular trait in human nature. 

The other exchanges are also in the immediate neigh- 
borhood. The Produce Exchange, in which is located 
"the Pit," that singular name for the trading of wheat, 
is located on Pearl Street. William E. Norris has tried 
to tell us something of the tragedy and heartbreaks 
that have sprung from "the Pit," but the wildest dreams 

111 



of the imagination fail to equal the stern realities of 
fact. . Back of the Produce Exchange is Marketfield 
Street^ the short thoroughfare down which Stuyvesant 
led his soldiers out of Fort Amsterdam to a ship in the 
harbor after his capitulation to the English. They 
changed the name to Petticoat Lane. On the building 
itself is a tablet marking the site of the first French 
Huguenot Church. The members of this church came 
every Sunday from New Rochelle^ walking all the way 
in their bare feet in order to save their shoes. Fancy 
a congregation today trudging twenty-five miles for a 
Sunday service! In the courtyard of the Exchange is 
also a tablet erected by the New York Schoolmasters' 
Club to mark the site of the first school on Manhattan 
Island — Adam Roelandtsen (1638). 

The Cotton Exchange is on Beaver Street^ about three 
minutes east from the Produce. This is the seat of 
King Cotton, whose rule there is none to dispute. About 
nine-tenths of all the world's supply is grown in our 
Southern States and hither come the world's consumers 
for supplies. Although this building is far removed 
from any plantation and many of its members, so it is 
said, have never even seen one, still the price of cotton 
is fixed here and the sources of supply and demand 
brought together. As in that other great staple, wheat, 
there exists also in cotton that fatal fascination that 
lures men to destruction. A corner in cotton has proved 
the undoing of many ?. man that might have been a 
huge success could he have resisted the blandishments 
of that seductive siren. On the walls of this exchange 
is a tablet erected by the New York Historical Society 
to mark the site of the first weekly newspaper published 
in New York — Bradford's Gazette (1725). Bradford's 
grave is in Trinity Church and is almost the first one 
on the right as you enter the sacred enclosure. Every 
year on his birthday the members of Big Six Typo- 

112 




©u. & u. 



A militant member of the Striking Actor 



graphical Union repair to the resting place of the first 
printer in New York and bedeck his grave with flowers. 
Hanover Square, in front of the exchange, is named 
after George I. of Hanover, and was a fashionable 
centre of English New York. The India House, a pri- 
vate club modeled after a similar organization that flour- 
ished in New York a century ago, faces the square and 
is well worth a visit. It has a wonderful collection of 
ship models and old prints of ships and steamers, be- 
sides many other recollections of the Asiatic trade which 
was formerly a great factor in the port of New York. 
The India House might be said to be a memorial of 
the late Major Willard Straight, a young financier who 
died in France during war service, and who was mainly 
responsible for its organization. 

The last of the great exchanges is the Consolidated, 
on the corner of Pearl and Beaver. It is essentially sim- 
ilar to the regular exchange, except that it deals more 
largely in small and odd lots — a sort of retail annex, 
as it were. The building derives additional interest from 
the fact that it stands on the site of the residence of 
Lord Sterling, who commanded the American troops at 
the disastrous battle of Long Island, but saved them 
from capture by brilliant maneuvering. He is buried 
in Trinity. 

There are a number of tablets in this vicinity which 
we might look at before returning to Wall Street and 
starting uptown. At Broad and Beaver is one to Marinus 
Willet, which marks the site of the seizure of arms by 
the Sons of Liberty from the British in 1775. At 73 
Pearl Street is one to mark the site of the first City 
Hall erected by the Dutch under Governor Kieft, known 
as the Stadt Huys (1653). The weather vane on this 
old building was saved at its destruction in 1699 and 
finally came into the possession of Washington Irving, 
who kindly bequeathed it on his death to the Society 

114 




The East River. Penns>lvaiua on way lo Bruuklyn >;avy Yard 




The Seaman's Church Institute. Memorial Fountain to brave 

Jack Binns and other heroes of the saddest ^of sea 

tragedies, the sinking of the "Titanic" 



of St. Nicholas, in whose custody it now is. This old 
Dutch City Hall was succeeded by the one already de- 
scribed on the corner of Wall Street and Nassau. 

At No. 90 is a tablet commemorating one of the most 
destructive fires that ever visited any city — the great 
fire of 1835, which destroyed over twenty million dol- 
lars worth of property, an almost unbelievable sum for 
these days. How New York ever survived such a calam- 
ity is hard to understand. This fire, however, did much 
to hasten the construction of the Croton Aqueduct, 
whereby running water in houses became possible, a 
public benefit which ultimately proved of greater value 
in many ways than the huge loss caused by this fire. 

The rather wide street at Coenties Slip is now a small 
public park — the Jeanette, named after the Herald's 
Arctic Expedition ship. In the filling-in process of this 
slip, part of the original fleet of canal boats lie buried, 
that came from Buffalo to New York Harbor bringing 
casks of Lake Erie water to mingle with the Atlantic. 
The magnificent building on the corner of South Street 
is the far famed Seaman's Institute, which looks after 
the welfare of Jack ashore. It has been of inestimable 
benefit to this element, and its admonition to "WRITE 
HOME," which greets you on almost every floor of 
the splendid buildings is only one of the really prac- 
tical good things it has done. A magnificent lantern, 
on a tower of the roof, discernable thirty miles from 
shore, is a tribute to the fidelity of the officers and crew 
of the ill fated Titanic. A tablet records the -main inci- 
dents of this saddest of all sea tragedies. 

The Broad Street Hospital and its Wonderful 
New Additions 

Near the heart of the financial district and counted a 
distinct part of it is the Broad Street Hospital, a stone's 
throw from the imposing building of the Seaman's In- 

116 



stitute. This institution overlooks the East River and 
its rapid growth has been marvellous. Starting as a 
small receiving hospital in 1914, it had its own building 
only two years later. Its extended service now compels 
the construction of additional units and by 1920 it will 
occupy an imposing edifice, second only to Bellevue 
Hospital. Although most of its cases come from the 
financial district, there are a great many from along the 
waterfront, so that the financier and the longshoreman 
are treated side by side. 

The first of these new units is to be dedicated to 
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt; the last to the late Mr. 
Harry S. Harkness. The first, or original, unit has 
been named after Herbert Barber, brother of James Bar- 
ber, of whom Dr. A. J. Barber Savage, superintendent, 
recently wrote, in dedicating a treatise on group medi- 
cine: 

"This work is respectfully inscribed as a token 
of affectionate esteem and in acknowledgment of 
that generous financial and moral support prompted 
by his interest in medical science and that far- 
sighted vision which made possible the Broad Street 
Hospital." 

In the matter of its sponsors the Broad Street Hos- 
pital is exceedingly fortunate. While the completed list 
is not yet ready for publication, it is certain that the 
future board of governors will contain the names of 
many men celebrated in the world of finance and pro- 
duction. That Henry L. Doherty, Charles E. Danforth, 
Elisha Walker, James Barber, Oakley Wood, Dr. Wil- 
liam H. DiefFenbach, William Hamlin Childs, Col. Wal- 
ter Scott, Edward L. Wemple, George C. Luebbers, 
Hon. Charles Strauss, Julien Stevens Ulman, and Dr. 
Robert T. Morris are already, and have been, associated 
with the Broad Street Hospital is suggestive of the list 
as it will appear when finished. No hospital in this 
respect will be so richly endowed. 

118 



The Eastern Hotel, a block from the Seaman's Insti- 
tute, is one of our oldest buildings and the oldest hotel 
in town. The beams are of solid mahogany, brought 
from South America as ballast. In former years it was 
a notable hostelry and entertained Daniel Webster, Rob- 
ert Fulton, Jenny Lind, Commodore Vanderbilt and 
other notables. 

There are quite a few interesting things still to be 
seen in this neighborhood, but I have covered the most 
important. In front of the building at the corner of 
South William and Beaver Streets are four ancient mar- 
ble columns brought from Pompeii by the late Lorenzo 
Delmonico in 1840, whose downtown restaurant occupied 
this building. At No. 13 South William Street is a 
house built in imitation of the old Dutch style. This 
is the real estate office of the Amos R. Eno Estate, 
whose father built the Fifth Avenue Hotel. 

At 51 Whitehall Street is a tablet to mark the old 
Whitehall Ferry, where Washington sailed for Mt. Ver- 
non after taking leave of his officers at Fraunces' Tav- 
ern, as already described. Whitehall Street was named 
after Stuyvesant's town house "White Hall," which stood 
near the corner of Pearl and Whitehall Streets. At 23 
another tablet marks the site of the home of the most 
noted preacher in the early days of the Dutch Church, 
Dominie Bogardus. His wife, Anneke Jans, owned the 
celebrated farm which ultimately became the property 
of Trinity Church. One of Anneke's sisters was not quite 
competent mentally, and was not present at the time 
the will was read disposing of the farm to Trinity 
Church. It is on this alleged circumstance that all this 
litigation against Trinity arose. For nearly a century 
unscrupulous lawyers have fattened on the credulity of 
the heirs of Anneke Jans by claiming that this fact ren- 
dered the will null and void. The prospect of owning 
a couple of miles of property in the heart of New 

119 



York is very alluring and no wonder the poor wretches 
succumbed to the temptation. Notwithstanding that a 
law has been passed by the State of New York to pro- 
hibit any further suits being brought against Trinity 
on this, or any other ground so far as their property 
is concerned, the nuisance has not yet wholly abated. 

We have now quite thoroughly explored the financial 
district and will continue our trip up Broadway to the 
City Hall. 



120 




A view on Fulton Street, named after the inventor of tiio 
steamship. Looking east, St. Paul's churchyard on left. 

Underhill 



KB 




I ^^ m.-^ mm 



OUR CIVIC CENTER 

Broadway North from Trinity Church to the 
City Hall 

OLD ST. Paul's, the post office, the astor house, the wool- 
wort BUILDING, TAMMANY HALL, NEWSPAPER ROW, PRINTING 
HOUSE SQ'UARE, THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING, HALL OF 
RECORDS, THE TOMBS, ETC., ETC. 

l^fORTH of Trinity is a magnificent building named 
^ after the church. It is in gothic architecture and 
one of the most notable in appearance on Broadway. 
Adjoining it is the Realty Building and beyond that at 
Thames Street is a tablet marking the site of a famous 
tavern in Revolutionary days, Burns' Coffee House, 
headquarters of the Sons of Liberty of whom, more here- 
after. Then comes the well-known Singer Building, the 
first to possess a tower of important height. 

Years ago on Broadwa}'-, about opposite the great 
Singer Building, stood a cluster of buildings which re- 
calls another curious feature of old Broadway — the mar- 
kets. This one became known as "Oswego Market." 
It became a great nuisance and finally the Common 
Council ordered its removal to the river front near Cort- 
landt Street, where it changed its name to Washington 
Market. By that name every New Yorker knows it, but 

122 




Unique view near the municipal centre of New ^ork. The Post 

Office, Municipal Building in the middle distance. Park 

Row Building and old Astor House, Woolworth 

Building on the left and St. Paul's Building 

on the right. Note how small St. Paul's 

Church appears in the centre 



few realize that it has an ancestry almost as ancient 
and honorable as any institution in New York. 

The Hudson Terminal Buildings^ the City Investing 
Building, the Title Guarantee Trust Company, the 
Broadway Maiden Lane Building, the Lawyers' Title 
Insurance Company, old St. John's Church, the father 
of Methodism in America, just off Broadway on John 
Street, the wonderful new building of the American 
Telegraph and Telephone Company on the site of the 
old Western Union structure, the great National Park 
Bank and the St. Paul Building, complete the notable 
structures between Trinity and St. Paul's Chapel. St. 
Paul's Chapel is our oldest church edifice now standing. 
Built in 1766, it ranks high among our few colonial 
treasures. 



Old St. Paul's Chapel 

Curiously enough, the Broadway end of the building 
is the rear, for the church was built fronting on the 
river; and in the old days a pleasant lawn sloped down 
to the water's edge, which was then on the line of 
Greenwich Street. One effect of St. Paul's thus looking 
away from Broadway, is to give us at the portal an 
increased sense of remoteness from the great thorough- 
fare and of isolation from its strenuous life, so that 
all the more readily we yield to the pervading spell of 
the churchyard's peaceful calm. It is modeled after 
St. Martin's in the Fields, London. 

After the burning of Trinity in 1776, St. Paul's be- 
came the parish church; here worshipped Lord Howe 
and Major Andre and the English midshipman who was 
afterward King George IV. After his inauguration at 
Federal Hall in Wall Street, President Washington and 
both houses of Congress came in solemn procession to 

124 



St. Paul's^ where service was conducted by Bishop Pro- 
vost, Chaplain of the Senate, and a Te Deum was sung. 
Thereafter, so long as New York remained the capital, 
the President was a regular attendant here; his diary 
for Sunday after Sunday contains the entry: "Went 
to St. Paul's Chapel in the forenoon." Washington's 
pew remains today as it was then; it is midway of 
the church on the left aisle, and is marked by the Arms 
of the United States on the wall. Across the church 
is the pew which was reserved for the Governor of 
the State, and was occupied by Governor Clinton ; above 
it are the State Arms. The pulpit canopy is ornamented 
with the gilded crest of the Prince of Wales, a crown 
surmounted by three ostrich feathers. It is the only 
emblem of royalty that escaped destruction at the hands 
of the Patriots when they came into possession of the 
city in 1784. 

In the wall of the Broadway portico, where it is seen 
from the street and is observed by innumerable eyes 
daily, is the ISIontgomery Monument, in memory of 
Major-General Richard Montgomery, who commanded 
the expedition against Canada in 1775, and on Decem- 
ber 31st of that year, in company with Colonel Benedict 
Arnold (afterwards the traitor), led the assault upon 
Quebec, where he fell, mortally wounded. Aaron Burr 
bore his body from the field, and the Englisl men gave 
it a soldier's burial in the city. Forty-three years later, 
in 1818, Canada surrendered the remains to the United 
States. At that time Mrs. Montgomery, in the forty- 
third year of her widowhood, was living near Tarrytown 
on the Hudson. Governor Clinton had told her of the 
day when the steamboat Richmond, bearing her hus- 
band's remains, would pass down the river; and sitting 
alone on the piazza of her home she watched for its 
coming. With what emotions she saw the pageant is 
told in a letter written to her niece: 

125 




St. Paul's Chapel and American Telephone & Telegraph Co. building 
on Broadway and Dey Street. 



"At length they came by with all that remained of a 
beloved husband, who left me in the bloom of man- 
hood, a perfect being-. Alas! how did he return? How- 
ever gratifying to my heart, yet to my feelings every 
pang I felt was renewed. The pomp with which it was 
conducted added to my woe; when the steamboat passed 
with slow and solemn movement, stopping before my 
house, the troops under arms, the Dead March from the 
muffled drums, the mournful music, the splendid coffin 
canopied with crepe and crowned with plumes, you may 
conceive my anguish. I cannot describe it." 

Curiously enough^ Mrs. Montgomery and Mrs. Ham- 
ilton each survived the deaths of their husbands nearly 
fifty years. And what changes they witnessed ! 

St. Peter's Church, corner Church Street and Barclay, 
is the oldest Roman Catholic church building in Man- 
hattan, established 1786. It has a tablet to Governor 
Dongan, who obtained the first charter for New York, 
giving the people a voice in the general government. 

Next comes the post-office, which is directly opposite 
the Woolworth Building. Inside the street corridor is 
a bronze bust and memorial to Postmaster Pearson, who 
did much to remove this branch of the public business 
from political spoilsmen. Near the Western entrance 
is a tablet to commemorate the site of the old Lib- 
erty Pole, erected by the Sons of Liberty in 1765. It 
stood just North of the post-office. The present build- 
ing was completed in 1876, but is already superseded 
by an up-to-the-minute structure opposite the Pennsyl- 
vania Station on Eighth Avenue, and the building you 
are now looking at may soon be a thing of the past. 

A movement to remove the post office and to re-erect 
the old Liberty Pole which stood in the park in Revolu- 
tionary days, as a war memorial to the Liberty Boys of 
1918 is also underway. A group of ol 1 New Yorkers has 
the project in charge. A more detailed account of this 
important undertaking is given in a special chapter. 

Emerging from the post-office and continuing up 
Broadway, we pass the old Astor House, for more than 

127 



half a century the wonder of New York and the best- 
known hotel m this part of the world. It is now an 
office building. Across the street is perhaps the most 
beautiful and impressive building ever erected for purely 
commercial purposes, the Woolworth Building. No 
greater tribute to the worth of small things could be 
devised, for all the world knows that it was built out 
of the profits of the five-and-ten-cent stores, and that 
within thirty days after completion it was free and 
clear of all debts or liabilities of any kind. It is sup- 
posed to have cost between seven and eight millions. 

While we are in this building we might speak of the 
genuine pleasure that the tourist may derive from a 
visit to any of the numerous towers in certain high 
buildings which are now available. Constructed origin- 
ally for ornament, these towers have turned out to be 
the best revenue producers contained in the building. 
Some are said to earn a hundred thousand dollars a year. 
The individual fee, however, is very slight, fifty cents, 
and the visitor can nowhere receive so much for his 
money as in a visit to either the Singer, Metropolitan 
or Woolworth Towers. 

It is a veritable aeroplane trip with none of the 
dangers of the real thing. We are many hundred feet 
up in the air, and it will give you something really inter- 
esting to talk about for the rest of your days. This 
ascent is made in regular passenger elevators part way, 
from which point you ch'ange for another set of elevators 
that carry you the remaining distance to the top. What 
happens when you step out on to the balcony of the 
tower and gaze at the city in the distance below is 
something that is not easily described. If the weather 
happens to be one of those wonderfully beautiful days, 
clear and without a cloud in the sky, as so frequently 
happens in New York," the scene is bewildering. There 
is first an uncanny quietness all about you — the roar 

128 



and the noise of the street completely disappear. Roads 
that seemed packed with people now seem to have quite 
considerable patches of space between the crowds, and 
the figures are dwarfed till they look like little ants 
running hither and thither. It is quite a thrilling expe- 
rience. 

Opposite the Post Office on the East side is the huge 
30-story Park Row Building, which stands on the site 
of one of New York's oldest theatres — the Park. An 
alley at the rear, still called Theatre Alley, was orig- 
inally the stage passage to the theatre. Junius Brutus 
Booth, Edmund Kean, Edwin Forrest, Fanny Elssler, 
Fanny Kemble, and other noted stars were seen here. A 
grand ball was given to Charles Dickens during his visit 
in 1842. Its memory is still kept green in New York. 

Opposite the City Hall is the entrance to the Brooklyn 
Bridge, the first and most famous of all the bridges 
spanning the East River. A very excellent view of the 
city may be had from the tower on the New York side. 
It is a short walk on the promenade. Both trolleys and 
elevated trains cross the bridge, but so many pillars 
and posts are in the way that any attempt to obtain 
a good sight of the river and bay is foredoomed to 
failure. Do not attempt to make use of the bridge dur- 
ing the rush hours. That is sacred to the mob. 

The fountain that stands in the park is located a little 
north of where the first fountain stood, which was erected 
in 1842, when running water was first introduced into 
New York. 

The building corner of Frankfort Street and Park 
Row, occupied for sixty years by the "Sun" is on the 
site of the original Tammany Hall headquarters. This 
was their first permanent location. As this is rather a 
famous organization, both outside of New York as well 
as in it, perhaps some details regarding its origin may 
not be amiss. It came into existence in 1789. Colonel 

129 




Striking effect of the Woolworth Building at night. 



Marinus WiUett, one of our earliest Mayors had been 
n the South negotiating a treaty ^ith the Creek Indian 
Ind returned to New York with one of their chiefs and 
twenty-eight warriors of the tribe. They were received 
wTmuch enthusiasm all along the route and ^^en they 
Teached New York imagine their surprise to be met and 
welcomedapparently by a brother tribe At all events, 
rdergation greeted them dressed in full Indian cos- 
tum bucktaifs and all, which assumed entire charge 
of the proceedings and conducted the puzzled Creeks to 
FederafHall and into the presence of the G-at White 
Father' Such was the first appearance of Tammany 
HaU in the annals of New York. It was a eleven piece 
of advertising and proclaimed the existence of the long 
expected rival Democratic organization to the rather 
aristocratic Society of Cincinnati, presided over by 
Washington, Hamilton and others. 

Opposite the Sun is the World Building, from whose 
tower a magnificent view of lower New York and the 
Harbor may be had. This section is known as News 
paper Kow/' most of the large dailies havmg their pub^ 
lication offices here. Frankfort Stree, going East from 
this corner, was named after the birthplace of Jacob 
Leisler, the only man to meet death for a purely polit ca 
offense in all the history of this city. Jacob Street, just 
below William, is named after his son-in-law, who per- 
ished with him. This occurred in 1691 and the State 
later acknowledged its error by restoring the f amily s 
property. A statue of Benjamin Frankhn patron saint 
of fhe printers, stands in the middle of the open space 
fronting the Tribune Building and which is known as 
Printing House Square. 

In Duane Street, just east of Park Row is another 
related branch of the great dailies-the Newsboys Lodg- 
ino- House-a most worthy organization. Besides car- 
ing for many homeless waifs and providing warmth and 

131 



shelter in the winter months, it affords comfortable, clean 
rooms all through the year. At Christmas they have a 
Christmas dinner that long ago became famous. This 
is quite an old institution for New York, as it was 
founded by J. Loring Brace in 1853. It is now admin- 
istered bv the Children's Aid ^^oeirtv. 



132 



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The Crush at Brooklyn Bridge Every Night Opposite City Hall. 

OUR CITY HALL 
TUT A VI NG explored the surrounding environmenL we 
-*- -■- will now enter the City Hall itself. It is open to 
visitors from 10 to 4 on week days and 10 to 12 on 
Saturdays. 

Ascending the steps, the visitor finds himself in a 
central rotunda, with curving stairs leading to a circu- 
lar gallery on the second floor. In this gallery, on the 
north side stands a statue of Thomas Jefferson. On 
the south side, opposite the stairs, is the entrance to the 
Governor's Room, now held ready for the Governor of 
the State when he visits New York. 

The furniture in these rooms, of solid mahogany, con- 
sists of the original chairs and tables used in the old 
Federal Building at Wall and Nassau Streets. Through 
a donation of Mrs. Russell Sage in 1909 and Mr. George 
McAneny, with subsequent gifts amounting altogether to 
$65,000, these rooms have been restored to their original 
serene and simple dignity. The few ornaments, clocks, 
candlesticks, etc., on the mantel shelves, while not his- 
torically associated with City Hall, have been sought 

134 



out with much pains and are strictly of the correct period 
and appropriate in style. One of the valued relics here 
shown is a portion of a limb of Peter Stuyvesant's pear 
tree. 

The building possesses two desks used by Washington 
in Federal Hall and is filled with a large number of 
portraits by Trumbull^ Inman, Weir and other well 
known artists. They are mostly of persons connected 
with the City or State of New York, Mayors of New 
York, Governors, etc., also a goodly representation of 
historic characters not necessarily New Yorkers. The 
attendant in the Governor's room has been in charge 
many years and takes great pleasure in explaining all the 
attractions of the building to those who express an inter- 
est in them. 

The present City Hall is the third building erected 
by the city (1812) for the administration of the muni- 
cipal affairs. The first was the Stadt Huys, at the cor- 
ner of Pearl Street and Coenties Slip, erected by the 
Dutch originally and continued by the English. It was 
demolished in 1700 and the new building at the corner 
of Wall and Nassau Streets took its place. It was suc- 
ceeded by the one we are now visiting (1812). 

Almost every important happening of an official char- 
acter takes place at the City Hall and the list of its 
famous receptions is a very long one. Nearly every big 
visitor to the United States lands here first, from Lafay- 
ette to the distinguished returning soldiers, who are here 
decorated by the Mayor in the presence of notables 
and the public; so it makes history all the time. Gen'i 
Pershing and King Albert were among the latest. 

The offices of the Mayor and the Borough President 
are still maintained in the City Hall, but the great army 
of clerks required to conduct the city's business are 
housed in an entirely different building. When it is 
remembered that eighty-five thousand persons are on the 

135 



city's permanent pay roll and that this number some- 
times is increased to one hundred and twenty thousand 
temporarih'^ it will be readily seen that the city's needs 
have tremendously outgrown the office facilities provided 
for it in 1812. 

There are many other interesting things to see in the 
City Hall which, for lack of space^ we are unable to 
enumerate here^ such as the punch bowf used at the 
Erie Canal celebration and various other old mementoes 
of the city's past. 

Outside the building is a tablet recording the fact 
that the Declaration of Independence was read to the 
Continental Army here, July 9th, 1776, General Wash- 
ington being present. Another tablet brings us sharply 
to more prosaic things by marking the spot where ground 
was first broken in the construction of the subway. The 
statue of Nathan Hale by MacMonnies is one of our 
most cherished possessions and is well worth a visit by 
any one at all interested in that splendid character. 

The Municipal Building 

Leaving the City Hall we walk a short distance to 
Chambers Street, where stands the workshop of the city, 
to which we have just referred, and which is officially 
known as the Municipal Building. Some 7,500 city 
clerks are employed here. 

It is a huge structure, 450 by 300 feet. It is 40 
stories high, or 564 feet. It cost about twelve million 
dollars. A wide vaulted passage allows for the con- 
tinuation of Chambers Street through the building. It 
is striking architectually, and its massive sculpture is 
very impressive. 

It has not much attraction for the sightseer, as it is 
strictly a business office building and devotes all its time 
to the work of the day. The Marriage License Bureau 
and the marrying facilities are all that is out of the 
usual. 

136 




Mayor Hylan greets the young Prince on the steps of the City Hall 

and presents him with the freedom^ of the City, thereby 

makine^ him a New Yorker. 



u. & u. 



Beyond the great Municipal Building is another 
quaint little bit of the city's oddities — the little red brick 
Catholic Church of St. Andrews, the rector of which is 
also Chaplain of the City Prison. Every morning at 2 
A. M. mass is said here for the benefit of night work- 
ers in this neighborhood and a goodly attendance is the 
general rule. To those unacquainted with this phase of 
metropolitan existence, the great number of persons who 
work at night and sleep in the day is a matter of great 
surprise. Bryan once made a speech to this class of 
our population and was surprised to find an audience 
that filled Printing House Square and extended well 
back into City Hall Park. St. Andrew's is a land mark 
downtown and greatly beloved. The residence of Gov- 
ernor Alfred E. Smith is within a short distance from 
St. Andrew's, which he occasionally attends. 

At present a large clear space extends from St. An- 
drew's back several blocks. This is the site chosen for 
the new County Court House. The accepted design 
shows a building modeled after the Coliseum at Rome, 
and when carried out New York will have a civic centre 
of great beauty. Nothing can be done, however, to carry 
out this scheme till the ugly post office is removed. 

Toward the bridge entrance is another tablet to mark 
the former site of another of New York's famous Revo- 
lutionary buildings, removed to make room for the sub- 
way — the old Register's Office, built in 1758 as a debt- 
ors' prison. During the Revolution this building was 
used as a military prison by the British, among whom 
was no less a personage than Ethan Allen, conquerer of 
Ticonderago. It was torn down in 1903 and thus dis- 
appeared another old landmark. 

Back of the City Hall still stands Bill Tweed's six 
million dollar Court House. A meaner looking build- 
ing for the money was never built. It ought to come 
down. The room is needed and surely if we can afford 

138 



to dispense with a historic structure like the Register's 
Office we can afford to be without a reminder of the 
swindling activities of the Tweed Ring. With this 
building and the Post Office removed, the park would be 
restored to its graceful proportions of Colonial days. 

Another municipal structure, the new Hall of Rec- 
ords, on Chambers Street, opposite the City Hall, is con- 
spicuous by the statues of Duane, Colden, Hine, Heath- 
cote, Stuyvesant, De Vries and Clinton — all eminent 
New Yorkers of bygone days. The allegorical, groups 
represent the purchase of Manhattan in 1626 and con- 
solidation of the greater city in 1898. The interior of 
the building is of great interest. The records cover 
practically every phase of the city's history since the 
beginning. Its collection of old Dutch maps and other 
items of earliest days is very complete. Inspection of 
these old documents is readily permitted. 

The large building west of the Hall of Records is the 
old store of New York's first Merchant Prince, A. T. 
Stewart. In the 40's this was the retail store, but later 
the establishment at Broadway and Ninth Street was 
erected. In its day the Stewart business was unique 
for size and earning capacity. Stewart is buried in old 
St. Mark's Church. His bodj^ was stolen shortly after 
it was interred and the crime was the sensation of the 
day. The building was recently purchased by Mr. Frank 
A. Munsey, the publisher, who will soon erect upon it a 
buildng to house the Sun and his other publications. The 
Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank, east of the Stewart 
Building, is a very rich and conservative institution. 
The Martin B. Brown Co., a famous city printer, who' 
prints election ballots, etc., has the adjoining establish- 
ment. 

North of the City Hall along Centre Street are some 
important public buildings that are worth a visit. In 
the block facing Centre, Leonard, Lafayette and Frank- 

139 



lin Streets is the Toinbs or City Prison. The span con- 
necting the buildings is popularly known as the "Bridge 
of Sighs/' as prisoners after receiving sentence return 
over this bridge and get their last glimpse of freedom 
from here. A permit to visit the prison may be obtained 
upon application to the Department of Correction, 224 
Leonard Street. Some interesting mural decorations are 
contained in the rooms of the Supreme Court. 

Just above the Tombs is the Headquarters of the Po- 
lice Department, which contains the famous Rogues' 
Gallery and the room where the daily lineup of criminals 
takes place so that the detectives may scan their features 
for future reference. Other rooms are for the usual 
requirements of such a department. A large mural 
painting over the judge's desk in the trial room portrays 
the same site in early times* 

This building stands on the site of what was formerly 
a miniature lake — the Collect Pond. It was 60 feet deep 
and on it John Fitch sailed the first model of a steam- 
boat while Fulton and Livingston viewed the trial from 
the bank. Fulton's attempt succeeded while Fitch's 
failed, but many persons believed that the idea was the 
latter's originally, but he did not secure the financial 
backing necessary to develop his plans, while Fulton did. 

East of this group of buildings is an Italian section 
and the much vaunted Chinatown. The civilizing in- 
fluence of Columbus Park, in conjunction with adequate 
police supervision, has made this region much less crim- 
inal than formerly. Baxter Street, too, is now eminently 
respectable, while the Five Points is perfectly harmless. 



142 






m^i^ 




The French Mission Arrives — The late Joseph Choate escorting 

Minister Viviani and Marshal Joffre from the famous 

landing stage on the Battery to their reception 

by Mayor Mitchel at the City Hall. 




Tremendous crowd that showed Field Marshal Joffre how much New 

\ ork adinired the great French General. Scene outside the 

City Hall when the French Mission arrived. 



/f^ T„t i.- 



Ncw-yorit May 20, 1 766. 

Joy to AMERICA ! 

At 3 this Day arrived here an Exprefs from Bojlo^ 
v/ith the following mod glorious News, on which 
//. Gawe congratulates the Friends oi America. 
Bojlorjy Friday ii o'Clock, i6th May, 1766. 

This Day arrived here the Brig Harrifon^ belong- 
ing to yohn Hamock^ Efq; Capt. Shutael Coffin y 
in 6 Weeks and 2 Days from London y with the 
following moft agreeable Intellicrence, viz. 

Broadside Announcing Repeal of the Stamp hc^ 

THE FAMOUS OLD LIBERTY POLE 
IN CITY HALL PARK 

Tl^HEN the present-day New Yorker regards the 
^ seething bustle of people and traffic with City 
Hall Park as a center, and the diminutive cupola of City 
Hall completely overshadowed by the towering Wool- 
worth Building and the other neighboring skyscrapers, it 
is somewhat difficult to realize that our city was for over 
a hundred years a little less than a rude hamlet on the 
outskirts of a howling wilderness. Pigs were the main 
reliance for keeping the streets clean, and as a result 
yellow fever devastated the village at regular intervals. 
In 1723, almost a century after its settlement, the white 
population was only 5,886, with about 1,500 slaves — con- 
siderably less than is housed in our Municipal Building 
of today. Pumps were in the middle of the street. The 
Fire Department consisted of a number of leather buck- 
ets kept by each citizen in the front hall. 

145 




To the Inhabitants of this City. 

WHEREAS fomc unhappy Differences have lately hap- 
pened bctvveen the Inhabitants aiid the Soldiers ; I am 
authorized to inform tlie FubHck, That to avoid the 
like for the future, Orders are ifl'ued by the Gi-.neral, That no 
Soldiers arc to go out of their Barracks, off Duty, unlcfs under the 
Command of a Non-commiirioned officer, who is to be anfwerahlc 
for the orderly Behaviour of the Soldiers, and take Care tiiat they 
oflbr no Infuit to the Inhabitants ; and this Order will be ftnC^ly 
obferved till the Amity and Fricndfhip that (lioulJ fubfill among 
the King's Subjedls, is rcftored ; and in Cafe the Citizens aSufe 
thorn, they are to endeavour to difcover the Oti'eiidcrs, and report 
them to a Magiflrate, that they mri) he proceeded againlt ac- 
cording to Law ; Therefore when Soldiers are fecn marching a- 
bout in Numbers, the Inhabitants are not to be akirrned, as it 
will be in Confequence of the above-mentioned Or.'crs. Tnis 
Precaution it is hoped, will prevent further l\:!5, fcllc^re Peace, 
and quiet the Minds of the People ; and It is expcc^-uc!,,, that the 
Inhabitants, on their Parts, will promote every good Infcnticn to 
prcfcrve Peace and good Order. 

Jffri^;^' W. HICKS, Myw. 



Broadside, apologizing for the assaults committed by the soldiers on the 
Sons of Liberty in defense of the Liberty Pole. 



While the "palisade" stretched across the city through 
what is now Wall Street, the settlers used to drive their 
cattle through the Land Gate just above Trinity Church 
up Broadway to City Hall Park, then called the Com- 
mon Lands, or public pasture. The city owned the land 
and any one could use it who wished. After a while, 
the jail was built upon it and the poor house and what 
there was of a hospital. Other city buildings like those 
on Randall's Island were added later. 

There were no newspapers, and current events trav- 
elled by word of mouth or by "Broadsides" pasted up 
in taverns or on the trees of the "Common" or "Fields." 
It was exactly a whole century after the settlement be- 
fore the first weekly paper was started — the Gazette, in 
1725, by William Bradford. It was subsidized by the 
Crown and not till the appearance of John Peter Zeng- 
er's Journal, some years later, was there a real "peo- 
ple's" paper. 

The Journal had the assurance, several times, to criti- 
cize what the authorities did and was promptly sup- 
pressed for its temerity. Finally its editor was thrown 
into jail. This caused great excitement through all the 
Colonies, and Andrew Hamilton, the greatest lawyer of 
his day, came from Philadelphia to defend the Journal. 
He succeeded in clearing Zenger, and thus was won a 
tremendous victory for liberty, as it established the 
Freedom of the Press. 

In the meantime, the City Hall Park became by com- 
mon consent, the rallying place for all public meetings. 
The passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 caused intense 
anger from one end of the Colonies to the other, and 
the repeal of this obno'xious measure was everywhere 
demanded. Public indignation found expression in 
numerous meetings in the "Fields." 

During the course of the debate in Parliament, a 
friendly member used the term "Sons of Liberty" in 

147 



referring to the American Colonists. This name was 
immediately adopted by numerous secret organizations 
which sprang at once into existence while the fate of 
the repeal was in doubt. When the King finally sur- 
rendered and a peaceful settlement ensued, the grateful 
people of New York held a huge Thanksgiving meeting 
on the Commons and, amid great enthusiasm, erected a 
high pole bearing the inscription, "The King, Pitt and 
Liberty" — the first Liberty Pole, around which for some 
time to come the people rallied at the first sign of any 
attempt to again impose Taxation without Representa- 
tion. 

This being the outward and visible sign of inward hos- 
tility to autocracy, the Liberty Pole met with much dis- 
favor by the authorities. In a few days this pole was 
cut down by soldiers attached to the 28th Regiment, then 
stationed here in the local barracks. The next day, 
while the citizens were preparing to erect another pole, 
they were attacked by the soldiers and several of the 
Sons of Liberty were severely hurt. A second pole was 
erected, but it suffered the fate of the first. Within 
two days a third arose and this time it was allowed to 
stand, as public opinion was again assuming a dangerous 
aspect. 

A year later when the citizens gathered to celebrate 
the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, the 
meeting aroused the anger of the authorities, and the 
soldiers again leveled the pole to the ground. And an- 
other pole — this time more substantial and bound with 
iron rings — rose in its place. It stood for three years. 
On January 13, 1770, an attempt to destroy this pole 
led to very serious consequences. The soldiers were 
driven off but returned with reinforcements and attacked 
a party of Liberty Boys in front of their Headquarters 
opposite the Commons. They were ordered back to their 
barracks, but renewed the fight two days later. This 

148 



encounter suddenly assumed alarming proportions and 
the conflict lasted two days, in which several lives were 
lost. Thus was spilled the first blood of the Revolu- 
tion, and it occurred two months before the Boston 
massacre. New York rarely speaks of it as an event of 
the first importance, yet such it really was. 

This pole, too, ultimately met the fate of its prede- 
cessors. Matters had now reached such a stage that 
something had to be done. In order to furnish no further 
excuse for interference by the authorities, it was decided 
to erect the pole on private ground just outside the limits 
of the Common, but for all practical purposes still on 
public land. The pole was outside the "Fields," but 
the crowd stood on the Common. By reference to the 
various Broadsides printed herewith by courtesy of the 
New York Historical Society, you will be able to see 
just how the people resented this interference with the 
Liberty Pole and how they finally bought their own 
plot of ground and erected a new pole on private prop- 
erty. 

The last pole was a substantial structure and stood 
till after the Revolution. It was a huge mast, 44 feet 
high, vrith a topmast 22 feet additional, and sunk twelve 
feet in the ground. It was encased for two-thirds of 
its length in iron bands and hoops firmly riveted together. 
It was surmounted by a gilt vane bearing the words — 
"Liberty and Prosperity," but with no reference to the 
King, or loyalty, as in the first instance. The temper 
of the people had radically changed. 

An attempt to destroy this pole a few weeks later 
precipitated another situation that threatened to rival 
in seriousness the affair in which lives had already been 
lost, and brought the authorities to a realization of con- 
sequences which they were illy prepared to face. British 
officers drove the soldiers back to their barracks and a 
guard was placed about the pole. The soldiers involved 

149 



were sent South to Pensacola and the pole remained 
unmolested until 1776, when the British took possession 
of the city. It was then immediately destroyed. Before 
this happened, however, Washington had the pleasure 
of reading the Declaration of Independence to the as- 
sembled citizens, almost at the base of the Liberty Pole. 
A bronze tablet on the City Hall commemorates this 
event. 

From this brief chronology we see how closely the 
Liberty Pole is identified with the stirring events that 
led up to the destruction of Autocracy in the new world 
(also under a German King, though on an English 
throne). It has been suggested that the old post office be 
removed and the historic Liberty Pole re-erected on its 
site as a memorial to our heroes in the great World War. 
What a magnificent tribute it would be to our splendid 
boys, if we were able to erect to their memories this 
simple monument that means so much. It stands for all 
our dear country stands for. It is the Soul of America 
and the symbol of our great Republic. It is the Gettys- 
burg Speech visualized! Nor is it within the power of 
marble or bronze to create a structure that would 
approach it in spiritual beauty and meaning. 

It seems only yesterday that we saw them marching 

to camp, mothers, wives and sweethearts clinging to their 

arms. And when they sailed away, three months later, 

that inspiring toast, written by one of their number from 

old Kentucky, Morrow Mayo, comes to mind: 

"Here's to the Blue of the windswept North 
When we meet on the Fields of France 
May the spirit of Grant be with you all 
As the Sons of the North advance! 

Here's to the Gray of the sunkissed South 
When we meet on the Fields of France 
May the spirit of Lee be with you all 
As the Sons of the South advance! 

And here's to the Blue and the Gray as one 
When we meet on the Fields of France, 
May the spirit of God be with us all 
As the Sons of the Flag advance!" * 

150 



On the base of the monument let there be inscribed 
these words : 



In Loving Memory of the 
Liberty Boys of 1918 

PEOPLE OF THB CITY OF NEW VOEK 

Will the citizens of New York arise to this glorious 
opportunity? The old City Hall Park restored to its 
ancient grandeur! An obsolete and out of d^^ build 
tag remfved, light, air and generous space taking its 
place in a congested section ! 

This movement is now under way. Any citizen can 
help with his approval and his moral support. Talk 
about it to your neighbors. Bring it up in your schoo s 
your clubs, your societies and your churches^ f you 
are a member of a patriotic society bring >' *« fe at 
tention of your officers Agitate! agitate! agitate JTh 
Federal Government, heretofore deaf to all entreaties 
to remove the Post Office, will heed the demand oiaU 
the people for so obvious and so appropriate a monu 
ment to its heroic dead ! 

Every week we should have some good speaker 
preaching the Gospel of Sound, Patriotic, Amencanism 
^t the To!t of the Liberty Pole. We need some rallying 
^Uc^some fountain head of inspiration to counteract 
The mischievious talk of the Bolshevist. 

The New York Historical Society and the Sons of 
the Revolution have assumed charge of this move- 
ment to erect the Pole and eliminate ^e Post Offi e 
and reports of their progress will be seen in the daily 
press from time to time. 

151 



Broadway from Chambers Street North to 
Forty-Second 

From a tourist's point of view there is practically 
nothing of interest in this section beyond the usual run 
of building devoted to wholesale business. Aside from 
its being our most notable street there is little else to 
sav about it. Not till you come to S4th Street, which 
marks the beginning of^he Great White Way, is there 
anything except Grace Church worthy of special men- 
tion. It is simply a long and busy street, just like doz- 
ens of other similar thoroughfares. 

There are rows and rows of monotonous buildings, 
with many a derelict in between. There is nothing to re- 
lieve the dull drab of existence, as the best sellers say, 
except the sight of an occasional Christian firm name on 
a siffn. This startling phenomena is readily recognized 
by the silent gaping throng that gathers in front of it, 
rooted to the spot, as it were, by the fascination of the 
novelty. 

There is a Broadwav Association that looks after the 
welfare of this street and does what it can to wake up 
some of the mediaeval landlords and bring this noted 
thoroughfare into the position it rightly holds as the pre- 
mier street of the Western World. Its present collec- 
tion of worn-out dwelling houses, run-down "iron fronts 
and motley array of taxpayers is far from creditable. 

West of Broadwav opposite the City Hall, to the 
River, and North to 14th Street, is now wholly given 
over to business and shipping. The side streets are the 
headquarters of various important industries and about 
a dozen blocks are given over to the Dry Goods District. 
At Hudson Street and to the river, Groceries, Canned 
Goods, Produce, Poultrv and other kindred lines con- 
gregate. Large loft buildings for manufacturing pur- 
poses of a heavy nature are frequent, and as you ap- 

153 



proach nearer to the Village, signs of persons living here 
are discernible. Most of them have been driven out, but 
some remain, and lately they have been joined by others. 
There is little, hovrever, of interest except perhaps the 
site of old St. John's Church, which the cutting through 
of Seventh Avenue, recently, has obliterated, till you 
strike Greenwich Village and the beginning of Fifth 
Avenue, at Washington Square. 

We have now covered the principal points in the down- 
town section. To get our exact bearing see map. We 
have drawn a straight line at Chambers Street from 
East to West, clear across the island. All the territory 
South of this line is what we have just been over. We 
shall now go East from the City Hall to the great East 
Side, Chinatown and the Bowery. 



154 




SOUTH 



Map Showing Down Town Section of New York from 
. Chambers Street, (Northern line); to Battery 
Park, (Southern). 

NOTE. Broadway divides the city into two sections: Stand- 
ing anywhere on Broadway and looking North all the side 
streets on the right are referred to as the East side; on the left 
all the streets are on the West side. Bear this in mind and it 
will help you to locate yourself very easily. 

Looking North on Broadway is uptown; looking South is 
downtown. 

The description begins at Battery Park and the Custom House, 
takes in the River front both East and West, goes up Broadway 
to Wall Street, through Wall and the whole financial district; 
then back to Broadway and up to City Hall, ending at Chambers 
Street. 

155 




THE GREAT EAST SIDE 



THE GHETTO, THE BOWERY, CHINATOWN, THE ITALIAN QUARTERS, 
THE BLACK BELT, ETC., ETC. 

npHE "Great East Side" that you read so much about 
-*■ in the papers, begins just a little East of the 
Municipal Building and extends from about Chatham 
Square and the Bowery, north to 14th Street and east 
to the river in the downtown section. This is where 
the "seething masses" live. 

To those ethnologically inclined, a stroll through these 
congested neighborhoods is no doubt interesting, but for 
the average sightseer there is nothing beyond endless 
crowds, more crowds, and still more crowds. For the 
greater part they are Italians intermixed with Russian 
Jews, Chinese, Greeks, Swedes, Turks, Hunks, Bulgars, 
Austrians, Serbs, Armenians, Slavs and Irish. These 
make up the "East Side" of the novelist, and includes 
the much talked of Ghetto. Open air pushcarts and kin- 
dred sights are much in evidence. It is, of course, inter- 
esting to see bits of ancient Europe so completely trans- 
planted into a modern, up-to-the-minute city as New 
York, and the quaint customs and the still quainter gar- 
ments affected by the more orthodox of these aliens has 
a certain amount of interest. 

157 



In this part of the city largely lives the species known 
as Garment Workers. It is only natural, therefore, that 
cloaks, suits, dresses and hats originally designed for 
more aristocratic quarters should here appear in cheap 
imitations. Division Street does quite a business in 
cloaks and suits and — (tell it not in Gath) — the cus- 
tomers do not all reside in the East Side. 

Millinery Row is on Clinton Street, and extends from 
Houston to Grand Street. The millinery shops here are 
as thick as berries on a bush. There are as many as 
sixteen stores on a single block, and so close to each 
other that it seems like a continuous show window. It 
also appears as if all the ladies' headgear had been called 
in convention. 

All the shops are styled either "French" or "Artistic." 
The show windows are fitted out to imitate the Fifth 
Avenue shops — parquet flooring, hats cocked at a coquet- 
tish angle on carved stands, ivory-tinted backgrounds, a 
blinding radiance of electric lights. They look very im- 
pressive to the shop girl. 

The priestesses who preside at these temples of style 
are saleswomen of a very shrewd and "talky" type. They 
flatter the looks of the customer. They have little ex- 
clamations of admiration and gestures of wonderment 
to deceive the unwary buyer. Their sales talk is a con- 
stant repetition of "French imported, "chic," "charm- 
ing," "it fits you beautiful," "awful nice" and other 
words to beguile the uncertain in their choice. 

In the matter of fixing a price, these saleswomen, 
under the subtle tuition of the proprietress, become 
adepts at "gouging." They will ask you two and three 
times the normal value of the hat in the hopes of net- 
ting a "sucker," and sometimes succeed. But those who 
are accustomed to the wolfish greed of these milliners 
drive a hard bargain, cutting the price asked in half or 
one-third. The saleswoman, will then commence a song 

159 




The Great East Side 



The push carts under the Manhattan Bridge. The great outdoor 
market of the Ghetto.— A'. Y. Tribune. 



of honeyed pleadings and try to wheedle a dollar or more 
from the obdurate%urchaser. The wise, little buyer, 
hoTever, presents a stony stubbornness to all her per- 
suTstons and just as she makes up her mmd to leave, 
the saUswoman eapitulates, after a last-minute-make-be- 
lieve conference with the owner. . , , , 

The remainder of "Millinery Row" is mainly taken up 
with stores catering to feminine needs in other depart- 
ments-corsetieres, dressmakers, booterles, glove stores, 
toUette supplies, ■Vedding-dresses-to-h.re establ.sh- 
ments-in short, an elongated Vanity Fair. 

Every etening the East Side girl promenades wim the 
throngs up and down Millinery Row, indulging m an 
orgy of window shopping, just like her sister on Fifth 

Avenue. 

The Colonel's lady and Judith O' Grady 
Are sisters under the skm. 

The open air markets are by long odds the most pie- 
turesQue feature of the street scenes. They are seat- 
tercTeve ywhe— the spaces under the Williamsburg 
Bridge befng particularly active. Certain sections are 
also known for "bargains. 

The mecca of the East Side bargain hunter is a strip 
of Orchard Street between Rivington ='"f 0/^"-^?; 
Its curbs are forever lined with pushcarts laden with a 
thousand and one variegated wares, piled high '" colo ful 
profusion and vividly reminiscent of a" Oriental bazaar 
in an "Arabian Nights" episode. Jostling and bolster 
ous crowds are feverishly ranging up «"<! -lown he row 
of pushcarts, and attracted to the wares by *!= /'"^ »"^ 
cry raised by the howling hawkers, women mill around 
the pushcarts like whirlpools. 

From morning until late into the night the turgid air 
resounds with a loud and confused clamor of buymg and 
selling; with the stentorian voices of the peddlers rising 
like war cries above the babel. 

161 



Each cart is a separate entity in this conglomerate 
„art and gathers about it. wheels a motley collection 
"people. Some are collarless and flannel sorted ; some 
aSinered and gowned in taffeta or broadcloth; others 
wear shawls on their heads and skirts of calico 

"Orchard Street" has become proverbia for cheap- 
ness supplanting even "Hester Street," which was once 
Popularly employed in this connection. If one wants o 
Lsfa reaction on an article of apparel it ^ sneering y 
referred to as having been purchased m Orchard 
Street" Merchants who keep shops of the better class 
u an effective method for despoiling customers who 
want a thing much below the stipula ed P"-. TW 
contemptuously advise them to go to O-^^d Street 

Contrary to the general impression that the E^^t Sidt 
is the abJde of want and poverty it is J -^ P0ss.be 
that conditions are not quite so bad as we are led to 



believe. 



"It drives me off my bean," Patrolman Levine said on 
the corn r of Rivington and Eldridge Streets, "to hear 
fmUir people In'^The Bronx and other places|o 
around telling how they pity the poor on the East hide_ 
lome of them get their pity from the Sunday stones of 
feUows who git their information over the telephone. 
The Ither people once lived on the East Side themselve^: 
but they ain't keen about advertising it, so they go tut 
tuttin' and pityin' like the rest." 

In further proof of his contention, the policeman said 
that out of thirty-six families in the house oppo- 
site, not three would be found at home. He rapped at 
many doors and only one responded. 

"What did I say?" he asked triumphantly. Was any 
one home? Nix, they all beat it as soon as their hu- 
bands go to work. These houses are almost emptj. 



163 



They are out in the air— down at Coney Island or Rock- 
away or Central Park. They go ear'ly, about 8 or 9 
o clock. They come home late." 

^ ''The women are bigger than the men/' he explained. 
Ihat IS, mostly. The men can't complain with any re- 
sults. The women aren't perfect housekeepers, but they 
sure do like their kids. I guess that is what sends them 
outdoors. People in other neighborhoods don't get the 
air half as much. I wish I could show this to some of 
those la-de-da writing guys." 

It is doubtful if any city does so much in the direc- 
tion of Welfare Work as New York for its poorer 
citizens. Free sterilized milk for the children, free 
clinics of all sorts, free classes where mothers are taught 
how to properly care for their children, evening classes 
for men, day nurseries and places where babies may 
be kept under competent care while their mothers 
go to work, free illustrated lectures for everybody. 
Lectures on preventable diseases and a hundred and one 
other aids are constantly at the service of these help- 
less persons. The famous Henry Street Settlement 
House is here; its methods and practices are copied in 
every city in the Union, and is only one of the many 
such similar institutions all over the city. 

While we are not particularly keen about the East side 
as a show section, we realize that it is full of strange 
sights for the tourist and no doubt will vield a mild sen- 
sation of novelty and entertainment. Yet if omitted, you 
are quite sure sooner or later to see these same streets and 
same neighborhoods in your local movies. This section 
of our City seems to have an irresistible fascination for 
the managers who decide what shall be shown in these 
popular places of entertainment and so we invariably 
have shown the sordid and squalid side of New York 
instead of the beautiful. If in a lucid interval (if such 

164 



a boon is ever vouchsafed a movie producer) they would 
at the same time shovr the perfectly splendid humani- 
tarian work going on here, it would not be so bad. 

In Public School 64, near Ninth Street and Avenue 
B, are three select classes for exceptionally bright, al- 
most precocious children. On the theory that it is as 
necessary to separate the backward children into un- 
graded classes, so is it equally necessary to segregate 
the distinctly gifted. Selection is by means of the.Ter- 
man mental test, which shows how smart you are. This 
is a revision of the famous Binet-Simon scale used to 
detect feeble minded in the courts, school and army. 

These children are not necessarily the product of some 
gem of purest ray serene, hidden by the dark, un- 
fathomed caves of life in the tenement district of a great 
city. Yet one of them gave a clue to his unconscious 
source of power. 

"My father," he said, "makes all the jokes in the 
funny column in the Jewish paper. A man comes from 
the paper every night and listens what my papa says, 
because my papa can't write." 

This is a most important step in the direction of public 
school education and its working is being watched with 
great interest. The development of the super intelli- 
gence of these children is not confined to art, literature 
or music, but is applied also to practical vocational in- 
struction. So there is no danger of raising a class of 
"prigs" to augment the numbers ground out of fashion- 
able seminaries. In fact the West Side is also advertis- 
ing special private instruction for the gifted among the 
rich. 

To stroll leisurely through Grand, Eldridge, Essex, 
Clinton, Hester, Division, Henry or Forsyth Streets; 
Avenue A, B or C, or any of the side streets from the 
City Hall to 14th Street, is not without interest. Some 
of the Sight Seeing Buses include part of this neigh- 

165 



borhood and that is the best way to see it. The names 
of many of these East Side streets recall a time when this 
section was the abode of Colonial Nobility. Hester 
Street is named after Hester Bayard^ wife of a nephew 
of Gov. Stuyvesant, whose farm covered a portion of this 
region. Delancey Street after James de Lancey, whose 
ancestors built Fraunces Tavern. Division Street marks 
the line between the great Rutgers and de Lancey farms. 
Oliver and James Streets are named for other members 
of the latter family. Clinton, for De Witt Clinton, 
creator of the Erie Canal, Mayor and Governor. 

But there is little now to suggest the days of lace and 
old lavender, yet the modest home of Alfred E. Smith, 
Governor of the great State of New York, is at 25 
Oliver Street, opposite Henry Street, within less than 
half a minute's walk of Chinatown. Almost back of 
Gov. Smith's house extending from Oliver Street to 
New Bowery, is a very small burial ground, but rather 
important. It is the first Jewish cemetery, the land for 
which was granted as far back as 1656. It is about a 
city lot in size, and almost hidden by the Elevated road. 
A dead wall which looks into it covered by brilliant the- 
atrical posters serves to emphasize the striking differ- 
ence between the Quick and the Dead. 

Chinatown. 

With the famous "East Side" thus disposed of, let 
us retrace our steps to the City Hall, pass over to 
Chatham Square and walk uptown a few short blocks, to 
Dover and Pell Streets. This is the celebrated Chinese 
Quarter, and presents quite an Oriental aspect with its 
curious architecture, glaring colors and huge laundry 
tickets for signs. The iniquity of Chinatown is simu- 
lated solely for the credulous tourist on the sight seeing 
buses. The old feuds between the rival Tongs are a 
thing of the past. Chinatown of to-day is no longer the 

166 



hot-bed of opium dens, vice and crime of former times, 
and is only mildly interesting to the visitor. So much 
however has been written concerning its wickedness that 
it seems a pity to describe it as a perfectly harmless 
locality depending upon legitimate patronage for its daily 
existence. To give but one instance of its modern and 
commercial aspect — the latest project under way is the 
erection of a large clubroom for an association of Chi- 
nese merchants. This building, when completed, will 
cost about $100,000 and be six stories of the finest 
Chinese architecture, coloring and furnishings. The 
Joss House and the Theatre are still there and the dis- 
cordant orchestra still continues to compete with the 
elevated. But in other respects it is a perfectly respec- 
table neighborhood compared with its former reputation. 
It is worth the visit. 

And "Hell's Kitchen," another gang rendezvous, has 
likewise lost interest in crime. 

"The neighborhood has all gone t' hell," said the flag- 
man, as he soulfully waved a freight train past Thirty- 
ninth Street on its way down Eleventh Avenue. 

"Yip," he reflected, "there ain't much to this neigh- 
borhood any more. We had one killin' last year, and that 
was a mistake. 

"Take a look at this avenoo," he continued. "It looks 
like a bums' alley. There ain't nothin' doin' at all, 
exceptin' maybe a few kids get fresh and throw rocks 
from the roof. Patrolman Nolan was killed that way on 
the block last year, but they weren't aimin' for him. He 
just happened to be in the way, and from what I hear 
they were sorry they did it. Wouldn't that kill yuh? 
Sorry for murderin' a cop ! I wonder wot the old bunch 
would t'ink about f eelin' sorry for crownin' a bull I 



167 



We have now seen two of the most talked of sections 
in the city. We will now proceed to another and per- 
haps the most famous of them all — the Bowery. In a 
short time we have come from the most opulent part of 
town to the most sordid. And that is typical of New 
York and sometimes of its citizens — one day rich, the 
next day poor. 

In going through the wealthy sections, one of the 
sights which must have puzzled the stranger — it is some- 
thing of a problem to the home folks as well — is the 
almost vanishing toilettes affected by the young business 
women in the great office buildings. 

Undoubtedly the furnishings and appointments in the 
average office in our newest buildings are neat, clean 
and verj^ attractive; there is little to suggest the old 
time cubby hole with its dingy windows, Baltimore 
heater, water pitcher, basin and bare, wooden floors 
carpeted only with velvety layers of dust. And perhaps 
the agreeable conditions interiorally are reflected in the 
beauty of the display exteriorally. 

Shimmery silks, fluffy laces, white kid boots with 
French heels of the most altitudenous height, silk stock- 
ings, low cut waists, short sleeves, shorter skirts, mani- 
cured nails and marcelled hair with occasional elbow 
length gloves and picture hats complete the costume of 
many a secretary or stenographer I have encountered in 
my myriad journeying up and down the elevators of the 
great financial buildings. The faint odor of some de- 
licious perfume is seldom lacking and one is sometimes 
at a loss to know whether he is on business bent or has 
accidentally stumbled into an afternoon tea or an even- 
ing reception. 

Personally I am glad of this cheerful change. I am 
utterly indifferent as to whether it is good taste or bad. 

Delmonico's Restaurant was the first business place 
to employ a woman in New York. The "lady cashier" 
excited comment for many a long day. 

168 



ifA: 



ik^.^^-^.:^^ 




THE BOWERY 

Leaving Chinatown, we emerge under a sombre 
shadow cast by many elevated trains converging at the 
junction of Chatham Square, Worth and Oliver Streets, 
and find ourselves on the Bowery. 

What a change has come over this erstwhile "hot bed 
of carnival and crime," as the reporters used to call it! 

Like many another far famed criminal locality the 
poor Bowery has lost even that doubtful distinction. 
McGurk's "Suicide Hall," "The Morgue," and the "Tub 
of Blood," have all disappeared. It became so penitent 
a while ago that it wanted to bury its dead past under 
a new name — Central Broadway. Fortunately the craze 
soon died out and the old lane which led to Stuyvesant's 
farm is still preserved under its Dutch name and let us 
hope will never be changed. 

The noisy L reels by its dingy windows — 

The "Lodging House for Men" — 
And careless eyes may look upon its inmates 

(They seldom look again). 
Only a bunch of "has-beens," frayed and seedy, 

Wanting a bath and shave; 
Wastrels, who whistled down the wind of Fortune 

The gifts that Nature gave. 

Now, drawn together by the fatal current 

Of life's Sargasso Sea, 
Helpless they drift along, like human wreckage. 

Yet dream that they are free; 
Each morning sees them bent above a paper, 

Their eyes intent and wide; 
Each has a "hunch" that he will make "a killing" 
Before the day has died. 

169 



Though startling stories deck the outer pages, 

Their flaming headlines pale 
Beside the interest of those fateful columns 

That say: "Help Wanted — Male"; 
"Young" — "Strong" — "Ambitious" — "Full of pep 
and ginger" — 

(They scan them, one by one) 
"Wanted: a man who is Alive — Aggressive"; 

(How much alike they run!) 



The noisy L reels by its dingy windows — 

The "Lodging House for Men" — 
And those who rushed this morning to the City 

Go rushing home again; • 
But there they sit, in apathetic quiet, 

As evening twilight falls, 
While, cynically near their dingy lodging. 

Shine out— the Three Gilt Balls! 

Florence Van Cleve, 

The Bowery extends from Chatham Square to Cooper 
Square. Washington rested at the Bull's Head Tavern 
on his entrance into New York in 1783. This site after- 
wards became the famous Bowery Theatre. Aside from 
the old theatre, there is little in it today to attract the 
tourist. The entire character of the street has changed. 
Even the old theatre has so long been the home of alien 
tongues that it is difficult to imagine that it was once 
one of the most fashionable play houses in town, and 
that Forrest, Booth the elder; Charlotte Cushman, and 
other eminent performers of another day held its boards. 
Another theatre in the same neighborhood, the National, 
where Cowperthwait's store now stands, divided honors 
with the Bowery in those days. Here was first played 
Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Geo. L. Fox in Humpty Dumpty, 
delighted our grandparents, as nothing else has ever 
seemed to do since. 

The Bowery of history has its chief distinction in 
that it was part of the old Boston Post Road, and led 
to Governor Stuyvesant's farm "Petersfield," which stood 
about the corner of Third Avenue and 12th Street. The 

170 



first mile stone which marked the distance to Boston, is 
still standing opposite Rivington Street. There is little 
else, however, to interest the reader till you come to the 
neighborhood of Stuyvesant's old home, and to the 
church founded by his widow. 

St. Mark's Church, at Second Avenue and 11th Street, 
stands on the site of a private chapel built b)^ Governor 
Stuyvesant. The land was given (1687) to the Dutch 
Church by Judith Stuyvesant, upon condition that the 
vault be preserved. The old governor's tomb is beneath 
the tablet erected to his memory. From time to time 
his descendants are laid beside him. In the wall of the 
Second Avenue side of this sacred edifice can be seen 
the stone tablet marking his last resting place which 
reads as follows: 

"In this vault lies burled 

Petrus Stuyvesant 

Late Captain-General and Governor in 
Chief of Amsterdam in New Netherland, 
now called New York, and the Dutch West 
India Islands. Died February A. D. 1 672, 
aged 80 years." 

There are also the graves of Governor Stoughtoi- 
(1691), Governor Tompkins, Mayor Philip Hone, whose 
famoul Diary is a mirror of New York Society in the 
'40's and '50's. Dr. Harris, one of the earliest presidents 
of Columbia College; Thomas Addis Emmett, a brother 
of the great Irish patriot and founder of the great wealth 
of the Emmett famih^ in New York today, and A. T. 
Stewart, the great dry goods merchant whose body was 
stolen. There are interesting memorial windows in the 
old church, erected by the Holland Dames in honor of 
Stuyvesant, Nicholas Fish, and Col. Tallmadge, whose 
generosity secured old Fraunces' Tavern to the city. 

172 



The Friends Meeting House and School face St. 
George's on the South. Occasionally there is still a 
fashionable wedding solemnized here, after the custom 
of the Friends. There is no minister or other religious 
ceremony. The bride and groom simply proclaim be- 
fore their friends their intention hereafter to live to- 
gether as man and wife and sign a declaration to that 
effect. 

The section around old St. Mark's — Second Avenue, 
Stuyvesant Square, etc., was at one time an exceeding- 
ly exclusive residential district. Hamilton Fish, a mem- 
ber of Grant's Cabinet, Wm. M. Evarts, Sec'y of State 
under Hayes, and a very eminent lawyer, besides many 
prominent families, lived here. Most of these old houses 
have disappeared — some have been torn down, others re- 
modeled into tenements, and two cf them into moving 
picture houses. Nowhere in the city has a neighbor- 
hood changed so completely. 

There is another of the old milestones on Third Ave- 
nue near 16th Street, and in the corner of 13th Street 
is a tablet marking the site of a Pear Tree brought 
over from Holland by Stuyvesant himself. It bore fruit 
and survived the storms of over two centuries, but 
finally succumbed to old age in 1868. Stuyvesant 
Square, once a private park and part of the Stuyvesant 
estate, is now a public possession. St. George's Church, 
facing the Square, is the one in which the late J. 
Pierpont Morgan served as vestryman for over fifty 
years, and is the successor of St. George's Chapel in 
Beekman Street, the first Chapel erected by Trinity. 
The Middle Dutch Church nearby, corner Second Ave- 
nue and 7th Street, is worth a visit. It is the successor 
of old Rip Van Dam's Church on Nassau Street, where 
the Mutual Life Building now stands. It has interesting 
tablets to old Dutch officials. Peter Minuit, first Director 
General and Elder in the original church then in the 

173 



Fort; to Rev. Jonas Michaeliiis, first minister^ and to 
J. C. Lamphier^ founder of the famous Fulton Street 
daily noonday prayer meeting. A tablet to the victims 
of the sad Slocum disaster is also here. Most of the 
children in that tragedy lived in this neighborhood, and 
a thousand families were plunged into mourning. There 
is another church nearly at 7th Street, the Seventh Street 
M. E. Church, recalling early days. It was formerly the 
Bowery village church, built in 1795. Two very old and 
very respectable cemeteries are hard by. The New York 
Marble Cemetery now almost forgotten, (41 Second 
Avenue) but containing the graves of many prominent 
families — Judsons, Bloodgoods, Lorillards, Grosvenor, 
Wyckoff and Hollands. The New York City Marble 
Cemetery on 2nd Street, east of Second Avenue (note 
the similarity of names), is another half forgotten God's 
Acre. In it lie James Lenox, Mrs. Paran Stevens, Pre- 
served Fish. President Monroe and John Ericsson were 
here for a while, but Monroe was removed to his native 
State and Ericsson to Sweden. There is an interesting 
old sun dial in the yard; and a scarcely decipherable 
tablet which records that it was intended as a "place of 
interment for gentlemen." 

The good old days of this part of town are still in- 
teresting to read about, but as in much else historical in 
New York, the imagination must play an important part, 
as there is nothing tangible left to look at. 

Coming up Ninth Street, we reach Lafayette Place, 
where part of La Grange's famous house old "Colonnade 
Row" still stands. President Tyler married Julia Gard- 
iner, of Gardiner's Island, here. John Jacob Astor lived 
where the old library is ; Washington Irving, FitzGreene 
Hallock and other celebrities lived in this "Row." The 
Episcopal Diocesan House is also on this street. The 
whole section stretching from Broadway to the Bowery 
was formerly Vauxhall Gardens' a fashionable resort, 

174 



and frequently mentioned in old stories of New York. 
Opposite Colonnade Row still stands the old Astor 
Library. This building was abandoned when the con- 
solidation with the New York Public Library was formed 
and the books of the old Astor n^e now housed in the 
beautiful building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. 

Cooper Union. 

The hall of Cooper Union has witnessed many famous 
gatherings and to this day it maintains its popularity. 
In the days before the Civil War its walls echoed to 
the plaudits of the Abolitionists like Beecher, Garrison 
and Wendell Philips. Abraham Lincoln made his first 
appearance before an Eastern audience in this place. 
It is said that his speech here made him President. At 
all events, Peter Cooper conferred a lasting good on 
New York when he bequeathed her this noble gift. Some 
Annex buildings have recently been added by the family, 
greatly enlarging its usefulness. 

From Pike Street to Tenth Street, along the East 
River in the old days were to be seen splendid sailing 
ships in every stage of construction. There were also 
rigging lofts, sail lofts, block and pump makers, paint- 
ers, carvers and gilders, iron, brass and copper workers; 
mast and spar makers, and ship stores of all kinds. The 
fresh odor of rough hewn lumber, seething Carolina pitch 
and Stockholm tar, filled the air with healthful frag- 
rance. For this was the day of the famous Yankee 
Clipper, and New York was in the lead of ship builders. 
The Flying Cloud, Sweepstakes, Andrew Jackson, N. B. 
Palmer and Surprise are only a few of the many famous 
square rigged beauties hailing from this port. 

175 



WOODEN SHIPS 

They are remembering forests where thev grew: 
The midnight quiet and the giant dance; 

And all the singing summers that they knew 

Are haunting still their altered circumstance. 

Leaves they have lost, and robins in the nest. 

Tug of the friendly earth denied to ships, 
These, and the rooted certainties, and rest — 

To gain a watery girdle at the hips. 

Only the wind that follows ever aft, 

They greet not as a stranger on their ways; 

But this old friend, with whom they drank and laughed. 
Sits in the stern and talks of other days. 

When they had held high bacchanalias still. 

Or dreamed among the stars on some tall hill. 

—David Morton. 

The famous yacht America, for whose cup there 
is still a continual contest, was designed and built by 
Henry Steers, whose yard was at the foot of about 12th 
Street. All this section is now hum drum and prosaic 
to an inordinate degree from a tourist's point of view, 
and not worth a visit, unless you are absorbingly inter- 
ested in big breweries, piano factories and lumber yards. 
So we will resume our trip back to Union Square, where 
Broadway and 14th Street commingle. 

Going north from Cooper Institute we see two mam- 
moth buildings occupied by John Wanamaker. The build- 
ing between 9th and 10th Streets is the old Stewart 
store. Grace Church adjoins Wanamaker's on the north, 
and at one time stood at the head of Broadway. It is one 
of our oldest churches, and its supporters are real old 
New Yorkers. It is the proper thing to be married from 
Grace Church at high noon. An open air pulpit in 
memory of Dr. Huntington is interesting. 

There is nothing particular beyond Grace Church un- 
til you come to 14th Street. Here is the building oc- 
cupied by that famous political organization, Tammany 
Hall. This is the home of the present "braves". We 
have given an account of their origin elsewhere in these 
pages. 

170 



Adjoining Tammany is the old Academy of Music, 
where Grand Opera was first given in New York^ and 
where the famous Ball to the Prince of Wales was given 
in 1860. The grandson of that Prince, recently in this 
country, was taken to view this old scene of his ancestor's 
visit to New York. The old decorations were restored 
and the Academy made to look once again as it did on 
that memorable occasion; the chair which was used by 
the grandfather was also brought out for the grandson's 
benefit. Some of the guests at that first ball were also 
present. It was an interesting incident in the visit of 
young Edward and one that he enjoyed. 

ROOSEVELT'S GRAVE 
At Oyster Bay, Forty Minutes From the City 

Already the great affection in which Roosevelt's mem- 
ory is held by the American people is finding outward 
and visible expression in the multitudes that make the 
pilgrimage to his last resting place at the foot of Saga- 
more Hill. 

From the day of his death this demonstration has 
been steadily growing. It is estimated that on regu- 
lar Sundays the crowds number upwards of five thou- 
sand, while on special occasions this number is more than 
doubled. Wreaths, memorial offerings and remem- 
brances of all sorts arrive daily. The insatiable desire 
to possess some souvenir of the grave has already 
caused the erection of a ten foot iron railing around 
the lowly mound. 

The grave is in Young's Cemetery and Roosevelt's 
old home at the top of Sagamore Hill is plainly in sight. 
All the familiar scenes which the Colonel loved and the 
places most closely identified with his home life are 
before you. It is a picture not easily forgotten and will 
prove one of the most lasting and satisfactory experi- 
ences you will receive on your whole trip. 

177 




BIG IDEAS IN LITTLE PLACES 



The Intimate Shop. The Unpretentious place of 

Original ideas^ Personal Service and Hand 

Made Articles. Individual Schemes 

Carried Out. Winifred Holt's 

World-famous "Lighthouse" 

Shop for the Blind. 

IN a great city like New York there is always room 
for a man or woman with a new idea and the courage 
to try it out. There is a constant demand for new ideas 
in almost every direction, wearing apparel, house decora- 
tion and knick knacks of all kinds. The great desire 
for novelties in birthday, wedding and Christmas gifts 
alone creates a large market, and women especially with 
a talent for creating original schemes are reasonably 
certain of a ready sale for all they can produce. We 
have been at pains to look over a few of these little 
specialty shops and the results of our investigations are 
set forth in this chapter. Most of these shops are quite 
diminutive; the proprietors themselves in most cases 
superintend their own places, and there is a certain 
quietness and freedom from hurry about them that is not 
without its charm. 

The Little Gallery at 4 East 48th Street is managed 
by a woman whose excellent taste in silver ware for wed- 
dnig gifts has resulted in the creation of quite a business. 
Her taste is evidently correct as her business is con- 

178 



stantly expanding and her little ground floor shop on 
so important a retail street shows that she is succeeding. 

At the "Lighthouse," 111 East 59th Street, can be 
seen a truly remarkable collection of baskets. Baskets 
for sewing, for flowers, for desks and studies; clothes 
baskets, Indian baskets in triangle design and colored 
borders ; baskets with glass containers inside and handles, 
to hold sweet peas, garden flowers, etc. Some also have 
covers to hold bread and rolls. Then there are charming 
reed mats in green, blue and yellow for luncheon sets. 
Then there are wonderful old fashioned colonial rag 
rugs in all sorts of pretty colors, most appropriate for 
bungalows, camps, etc. Bungalow and garden aprons 
and bags; hemmed towels, home spun for men's suits 
and many other delightful novelties. You will be 
amazed at the excellence of the workmanship of these 
goods. And still more so when you are told that all 
this is the product of the blind! For this shop is 
the famous "Lighthouse" that you have read so much 
about in the papers and the goods are the product 
of these poor unfortunates whose hard lot has been 
so greatly lightened by the intelligent self help so 
skillfully planned and brilliantly carried to success by 
Miss Winifred Holt. You are not expected to patronize 
this shop as a school of charity nor is the business con- 
ducted in a spirit of mendicancy. The goods are priced 
in open competition with the work of the world. Many 
large orders by the most prominent Arms in New York 
are placed with the workers of the "Lighthouse" solely 
on the basis of price and merit. The "Lighthouse" is 
indeed a shining mark in the busy streets of old New 
York. It is well worth a visit and many other things 
that we cannot speak of here at length will be cheerfully 
sliown you. 

To those who would make an intensive shopping tour 
of the city we would suggest the engagement of one of 

179 



those service shoppers, a number of whom there are. 
They are thoroughly acquainted with all the stores, big 
and little, know every nook and cranny of the retail 
district and can pilot you around in less than half the 
time you could do it yourself and much more thoroughly 
besides. They receive a slight commission on any pur- 
chases you may make through them and that is all the 
compensation expected. 

At 14th Street we shall walk a few blocks west of 
the old Academy and turn at Fifth Avenue, going south 
to the Washington Arch. This brings us directly into 
another well-known quarter of the city — Greenwich 
Village. 



180 




GREENWICH VILLAGE ^^^ 

/the latin QU.'UITER OF NEW YORK. ITS QUAINT OLD HOUSES; / 
/ ITS SHORT HAIRED WOMEN AND LONG HAIRED MEN. A j 

/ PICTURESQUE QUARTER LYING BETWEEN WASH" 



_ INGTON SQUARE AND THE RIVER. 

npHIS is one of the best advertised sections of mw- little 
■■■ eefiMa«m±^(and displays much skill in getting on the 
front page. To the New Yorker it is rather a pleasant 
retreat, altogether too far downtown for residential pur- 
poses, hence abandoned to those queer people who like to 
go around in sculptors' aprons, long hair and bobbed hair 
and soft slouch hats, or none at all. It prides itself 
upon its Bohemianism, its art and its general superiority 
to the average citizen. To the credit of Greenwich Vil- 
lage, however, let it be said that it does not take itself 
half so seriously as the rest of the city thinks it does. 

You know this Bohemian part of New York is 
made up of old houses which is so picturesque 
through not having much plumbing and so forth 
and heat being furnished principally by the talk 
of the tenants on Bolshevism, etc. These incon- 
veniences makes an atmosphere of freedom and all 
that and furnishes a district where the shoe clerk 
can go and be his true self among the many wild, 
free spirits from Chicago and all points west. Well, 
this neighborhood could stand a lot of repairs, not 
alone in the personal sense, but in a good many of 
the buildings, but these are seldom made until 
interfered with by the police or building depart- 
ments. — Nina Putnam. 

There are quite a number of creditable performers in the 
art line in their midst, and publicity never did an artist 
any harm in the world. So the succession of "fakirs' 

181 



r^n 



balls/' "costume parties/' etc., are to a certain extent 
strictly business. The "Festa" given by the villagers in 
MacDougal Alley for the Red Cross fund during the 
\ War was an event which attracted attention the country 
i^^)yer. No such artistic achievement was ever before re^ 
corded, even by those doughty villagers themselves, and 
the amount of public interest was shown by the attend- 
ance, which was so great as to call for a force of police 
reserves to keep the crowd in line. 

Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, 
Jr., Mrs. Guinness, Mrs. Maynard, Mrs. Delano and a 
host of nation-wide-known women in society headed the 
affair, and many thousands of dollars were raised for the 
fund. It is the backing of such names as these that 
creates the spell which fascinates the outside world. 
[ Several notable locations are in the Village. The 
home of Washington Irving's sister at 15 Commerce 
street. General Mortons house at 95 Morton street op- 
posite "Mr. Williamson's Garden" mentioned in Wash- 
ton's Diary. The residence of Mme. Bonneville, 309 
Bleecker street where Tom Paine, author of the Age of 
Reason, lived. He died in a small wooden house at 50 
Grove Street. At 82 Jane Street is the site of William 
Bayard's house, where Alexander Hamilton was taken to 
die after being mortally wounded by Burr in the duel; 
Richmond Hill, Aaron Burr's residence. The old Grove 
Street school, visited by Lafayette, and the three-story 
brick house still standing, occupied by W. B. Astor, 
brother of the original John Jacob. 

The night life of the Village centres for the most part 
around the innumerable small restaurants and tea rooms. 
The limit of originality has been reached in selecting 
names for these various resorts. The Pig and Whistle 
affects a Dickens atmosphere, and the decorations recall 
Tony Weller, Wilkins Micawber, Little Nell, and Dom- 
bey & Son. For this little inn is modeled after one of his 

"^-~""' ' ' 182 



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l: 



books and the famous one in London. Even the little 
sq\iare-paned curtained windows and old Dickens prints 
are there to complete the picture and atmosphere. Not 
much attention is paid to the napery in these places; 
paper napkins, plain wooden tables and chairs with 
benches running along the walls, make up the general 
run of furnishings. Pipe racks, gaudily painted nooks 
and corners with more or less clever wood carving here 
and there; Chinese lanterns, old English lanterns and 
odd conceits in lighting effects, impart more or less of a 
novel effect to the visitor. The food is all well cooked, 
and nicely served and in some places even daintily. 

'Tuss-in-Boots," "The Dragon Fly," "The Pirate's 
Den," "The Mad Hatter," "The Black Parrott," "Little 
Sea Maid," "The Wigwam," "The Garrett," "Treasure 
Island," "Little Russia," "Paul and Joe's," "The Sam- 
ovar," "Three Steps Down," "Aunt Clemmy's" and a 
dozen others, provide amusement and attraction for the 
visitor. Most of these little places are tastefully painted 
on the outside in some cheef ul bright colors ; vivid greens, 
brilliant carmine, j et blacks, Mediterranean Blues, Span- 
ish yellows, and other startling combinations used with 
artistic and successful results. The very pretty custom 
of having flower boxes on the window sills with brilliant 
flowering plants is also a feature of Village decoration, 
and adds a lot of freshness, decidedly enjoyable. Many 
of the old tenement houses are now being remodelled, 
and to the credit of the owners be it said they have em- 
ployed clever designers who understand and interpret the 
spirit of the Village architecture, and some of these 
altered buildings are fascinating in their appearance. 
In the meantime rents have greatly increased as a result 
and the tenure of the bobhaired bohemian is likely to 
be curtailed in consequence. 

To many readers who have regaled themselves only 
with the "Tickle Toe" philosophy, the "Soul light 

183 



11 

u 



Shrines" and frivolous sides of life in Greenwich Vil- 
lage, it may come as a surprise to learn that there is also 
a very serious and dignified side to it as well. Many old 
families of large wealth formerly lived in the Village, 
and their interest in it is still keen and piously cherished. 
They have been mainly responsible for the erection of a 
beautiful building for the local Theatre. This structure . 
is no cheap affair, but compares favorably with the best 
in town. It is admirably located on Sheridan Square, 
and faces on three streets, and well worth a visit. Some 
of the plays presented have won wide commendation, 
and special efforts are made to produce works of genuine 
merit by unknown authors. The Provincetown Players 
at 139 MacDougal Street, have also scored importantly 
in recent successes and altogether the stage has no reason 
to be ashamed of the product of Greenwich Village. 
But perhaps the institution of which the genuine Villager 
is most proud is^he Greenwich House, at 27 Barrow 
Street, -wMch under the leadership of Mrs. V. G. Simk- 
hovitch, (born a Kingsbury, but married a Greek pro- 
fessor in Columbia,) and a Villager, has become a 
notable influence for good. As an example of what ■ 
settlement work should be, Greenwich House is a splendid 
illustration. ----__J 

Something like twenty-two hundred persons are in 
attendance every week at the various meetings held in 
the House. There are babies' Clinics, Health and Hy- 
giene Clinics, First Aid, Kindergarten and Montessori 
Classes. There are clubs for boys, girls, and growns-ups. 
Topics of interest on daily affairs are discussed, lectures 
given and classes are held in the evening for self im- 
provement. Nor is everything confined to such sober 
work. There is plenty of recreation. Social meetings, 
dances, gatherings of informal characters, Thanksgiving 
and Christmas dinners, a summer centre for children, 
and a place to care for babies during the day time. An 

184 



assembly hall for general meetings, a gymnasium for 
basket ball and other games. Music, pottery, and in- 
dustrial art is taught. In short the program of the work 
done in a year at the Greenwich House is a credit to 
the splendid band of. men and women who have so un- 
selfishly devoted their time and their money to the work 
of making themselves neighborly. That they have gone 
about their work in the right spirit is best evidenced by 
the popularity of the instituion and the wonderful weekly 
attendance. 

Mrs. Simkhovitch is not alone in her glory. She has 
gathered around her a group of co-workers whose fame 
is nation wide. Mrs. Henry Payne Whitney, Miss Ida 
Tarbell, Mrs. A. Gordon Norrie, Miss Cornelia Gallatin, 
Mr. Ogden Mills, IVIr. Thomas W. Lamont, Mr. George 
Gordon Battle, Judge Learned Harned, and at least 
twenty others. With so talented a board of managers it 
is not so difficult to account for the huge success of the 
Greenwich House. 

Mrs. Simkhovitch was pIso first president of the 
United Neighborhood Houses of New York, an organ- 
ization lately formed by a federation of forty-five differ- 
ent associations, all working toward the goal of social 
betterment in developing community life and higher 
neighborhood standards. 

The map which you will find at the end of this chap- 
ter, includes all that you have seen from City Hall to 
14th Street, on both East and West sides. By adding 
it to the first map you will see that you have already 
covered a third of the Island. 



185 







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From 14th Street to 59th 

OLD 23rd street home of clement MOORE, AUTHOR OF "tHE 

NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS." JAMES FISKE, ED STOKES, LOUISE 

MANSFIELD, LiLY LANGTRY, ALL RESIDENTS OF THIS 

STREET. ST. PETER's CHURCH, THE PAULIST FATHERS, 

SLOANE MATERNITY, VANDEREILT CLINICS. 

CENTRAL PARK. 

Leaving Greenwich Village the next interesting sec- 
tion of New York extends from 19th to 24th and from 
Eighth Avenue to the river. It was formerly a region 
of highly respectable homes and is locally known as 
"Chelsea Village," so named by Captain Clarke, after 
the famous old soldiers' home near London. Clarke 
was a veteran of the early Colonial wars and settled 
here about 1750, on the land that is now between 
Ninth Avenue, 22nd and 23rd Streets and the river. 
There are still quite a number of residences in this neigh- 
borhood, but to a very great extent business has prac- 
tically wiped out the old social atmosphere. The grounds 
of the General Theological Seminary, covering the block 
between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, 20th and 21st Streets,, 
still connects it with scholastic days of the past. Clement 
C. Moore, whose home was on the corner of Ninth Ave- 
nue and 23rd Street, has brought fame to this village 
by his little poem familiar to children the world over — 
"The Night Before Christmas." Mr. Moore was famous 
as a theologian and a scholar of great attainments, but 
his great achievements in the realm of higher thought 
have been practically forgotten in the fame which came 
to him as the author of these simple lines. They were 
first published anonymously in an obscure country paper 
at Troy, N. Y., in 1822. 

St. Peter's Church, in this neighborhood, celebrated its 
80th Anniversary not long ago and has some interesting 
historical associations. It stands on land donated by 
Mr. Moore, as does also the Theological Seminary. 

187 



On the block between Ninth and Tenth Avenues on 
23rd Street, the visitor is still pointed out the house 
built for Josie Mansfield, a notorious woman, by "Jim" 
P'iske, one time President of the Erie, whose partner 
Stokes killed him in the Broadway Hotel in a quarrel 
over her favor. His residence was on the same street. 
Lily Langtry also sojourned here during her first visit 
to New York. Her home is now occupied by the Pasteur 
Institute. Edwin Forrest lived at 436. 

On Eighth Avenue, between 23rd and 26th Streets, oc- 
curred the famous Orange riots in 1873, in which over 
200 lives were lost. It was the last clash between the 
Protestant and Catholic factions in the Irish population 
of New York. 

In older days this region was much given over to tar- 
get companies and parades of exempt firemen. The 
custom of parading on Thanksgiving Day in grotesque 
costumes was also more prevalent in Chelsea Village than 
in most other parts of town. Generally speaking, how- 
ever, there is little of interest for the visitor from out- 
of-town, although the old New Yorkers still find interest 
in London Terrace, Scotch Row, Inspector William's 
Residence, Pike's Old Opera House and recollections of 
the Erie Railroad. A purely local celebrity was the 
Rev. Dr. Campbell, whose successors now conduct an 
institution peculiar to New York, known as the Funeral 
Church. Strange as it may seem, very little attention 
is paid by the modern apartment house builder to the 
fact that we must all pass away, whether we live in 
flats or not. Consequently, from lack of accommoda- 
tions, the custom of resorting to an institution like this 
Funeral Church has become quite general. The latter 
is nicely equipped with all accessories for a decorous 
and well managed funeral, and it is a decided conven- 
ience to life in a great city — or, more strictly speaking, 
death. 

188 



The further up we go on the West Side the more- 
families we encounter. Business has not yet driven the 
home builder wholly out of this region, yet it must be 
confessed that the number of single house dwellers grows 
fewer each year. Some are still left, but apartment 
houses are the rule. 

At 59th Street is the Church of St. Paul, the Apostle^ 
seat of the Paulist Fathers. It is a very important 
church and from the number of art works it contains is 
well worth a visit. Saint-Gaudens, Stanford White and 
John La Farge, were intimately connected with its artis- 
tic development. Some of White's best work is seen here. 
MacMonnies, Martigny, Harris, Pratt, Kelly, Wentwood 
and others are well represented. In many respects artis- 
tically, it is the most noted church in the city. 

Other well known institutions close by are the Roose- 
velt Hospital, Sloane Maternity, College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, the Vanderbilt Clinic. With the exception 
of the Roosevelt, this splendid group of buildings is the 
joint gift of W. H. Vanderbilt and his children. 

Fifty-Ninth Street seems a natural dividing line be- 
tween upper and lower New York. Central Park begins 
here. It extends from Fifth Avenue on the East to 
Eighth Avenue on the West. Sixth and Seventh Ave- 
nues, therefore, come to a temporary halt. At the north 
end of the park they resume their northward march, the 
former, however, changing its name to Lenox Avenue. 
Other avenues also drop their numerical names at 59th 
Street. Eighth Avenue becomes Central Park West but 
resumes the old title north of the park. Ninth Avenue 
becomes Columbus; Tenth Avenue, Amsterdam; 
Eleventh, West End Avenue. The character of these 
streets also change for the better and the new names are 
in harmony with improved conditions. 

Between 42nd and 59th Streets the population is of 
a migratory professional character. The theatre, musical! 

189 




I Maine Monument. Columbus Circle, entrance to Central Park 

© Edison Co. photo 



companies^, the movies and vaudeville all combine to at- 
tract a large contingent^ who reside here for a shorter 
or longer period, as circumstances demand. The busi- 
ness of providing entertainment for the public in New 
York is on a very large scale and from it is drawn the 
major patronage for the rooming and boarding houses 
which lie west of Broadway, in what is called the the- 
atrical district. 

In this short run from 23rd to 59th Street we have 
touched only upon the far streets of the West Side. 
It rightly includes part of the theatrical section, but 
that is treated separately in another chapter. 

A Half Forgotten Corner; Gramercy Park, the 
Players Club and the House where Roosevelt 

WAS Born. 
Gramercy Park is a famous little nook nestling be- 
{ tween approaching high buildings in a little square be- 
tween 20th and 21st Streets just off Fourth Avenue. 
I The Park was a gift from Samuel B. Ruggles to the 
i owners of the adjoining property and is a private pos- 
session not open to the public. Many famous men, in- 
j eluding Cyrus W. Field, Samuel J. Tilden, Edwin 
I Booth, etc., have lived in Gramercy Park, which has been 
I recently subject of sympathetic and delightful little 
I essay by Mr. John B. Pine, a Trustee of Columbia 
! University and a resident of the Park. 
I On 19th Street an interesting experiment has been 
successfully carried out whereby several very ordinary 
I houses have been most artistically remodeled and now 
1 present a most attractive and artistic appearance. The 
1 block is known as "Pomander Walk." 
I At 28 East 20th Street, near Broadway, is the house 
! in which was born that great American, Theodore Roose- 
velt, soldier, statesman and ex-president of the United 
States. 

At 22nd Street, opposite Gramercy Park, is the of- 

191 



fices of the Russell Sage Foundation. Admission free 
between 9.45 to 10 P. M. to the Library of over 12,000 
volumes on its specialty, the question of social and living 
conditions. 

The Players' Club is at 16 Gramercy Park. The Club 
House was a gift from Edwin Booth, who made his 
home in the upper front room. It is still preserved ex- 
actly as he left it. The club possesses Booth's private 
library, his prompt books and Shakespearean costumes. 
During Booth's lifetime it was the custom of all the 
members in the lounging room to rise as Mr. Booth 
started to go upstairs and the courtly "good-night, Mr. 
Booth," makes a pleasant memory. The Club erected a 
magnificent statue last year within the confines of the 
jealously guarded Park, of Booth in his favorite char- 
acter, Hamlet. It is one of the most beautiful works of 
art in the city. Mr. Quinn is the sculptor. 

The National Arts Club has its building a few doors 
west of the Players. It entertains nearly all the liter- 
ary and artistic lions who visit New York in the season. 

Leaving Gramercy Park and going West a few short 
blocks, we now approach what New Yorkers are pleased 
to think is the greatest street in the world — Fifth Ave- 
nue. At all events, it is easily the most fascinating, the 
most beautiful and by all standards the most interesting 
in the city. It has a distinguished lineage and was for 
years the most exclusive residential section in town. In 
these by-gone days, to live "on the Avenue" was of itself 
an unimpeachable patent of social nobility and even in 
its transition from fashion to business it has maintained 
and preserved its old time aristocratic atmosphere. It 
begins at the Arch in Greenwich Village. 

Before we enter this historic roadway, let us pause 
for a moment and recall the stirring scenes here enacted 
during the dark days of the Great War. The first 
rumblings of the approaching storm were heard in the 

193 



measured tread of 100,000 men who marclied in the 
Preparedness Parade. Solemn and impressive was its 
meaning — wake up^ America ! In a few weeks the storm 
broke in all its fury and for the next two years Fifth 
Avenue is no longer an exclusive New York possession, 
but becomes a Highway of the World. 



I 




Fifth Avenue, looking north from Thirty-fourth Street; the 
spire of the Brick Presbyterian Church shows in the distance 
Brown Bros. 




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Fifth Aveniie, north from Forty-second Street to the Plaza at 

Central Park. The distant spires on the right are 

St. Patrick's Cathedral. Temple Emanu-El on 

the corner of Forty-third Street 



A.M 













Flag Raising Day at the Altar of Liberty on the Avenue at 
Madison Square. 
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Gen. Clandon, of the French Mission, speaking at the Altar 

of Liberty on French Day. 




Mr J P Morgan, the international financier, leads a company 
■"n one of the great Liberty Loan parades. 
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Aeroplane view of the laiimus 77th Division passing up the 
Avenue. 
International 



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The Union League Club presents a set of colors to the New 
York colored troops leaving for France, 1917 




Ihe colored troops upon their victorious return restore the colors 

to the custody of the Club for safe keeping. 

President Hughes speaking 




Armistice Day on the Avenue at 34th Street, 
of the whole street. 

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FIFTH AVENUE 
Mayfair of the Western World 



the wonder street of the town. the new retail district. 

"avenue of the allies." the pageant street of the 

world. its magnificent shops. its famous clubs. 

its bouyant throngs. old time memories. 

T^HE first thing that strikes the stranger in New York 
is the large number of well dressed people seen on 
this street. And I mean by that not well dressed in the 
ordinary acceptance of the term, but elaborately so. 
It was Sir John Suckling, was it not, who wrote: 

Her feet beneath her petticoat 
Like little mice stole in and out, 
As if they feared the light; 

Well, if Sir John were to walk down the avenue today 
he would think that it was perpetual night, so fearless 
have the mice become. 

It is not an exaggeration to say that in no other city 
in the world is there a street so altogether attractive as 
Fifth Avenue from Madison Square to Carnegie Hill. 
It is the one thoroughfare which by common consent 
has been reserved for the use of polite society. No 
unsightly wagons filled with hind quarters of beef or 
other ill-smelling merchandise are permitted to invade 
its classic precincts. The most plebeian vehicle is 
the 'bus and even that charges double the fare of 

247 



other cars and imparts a corresponding sense of super- 
iority. All other commercial transportation is rigor- 
ously excluded. Motor cars of the most costly type 
interspersed with an occasional old-fashioned family 
coach drawn by a pair of spirited horses, with driver 
and footman, occupy the driveway exclusively and the 
crowds on either sidewalk are in keeping with the same 
standard. On one of those ravishingly beautiful days, 
for which New York is famous, it is hard to adequately 
describe the animation of the crowds or the exhilaration 
of a walk on this most famous show street of the town. 
The fascination of the human pageant is greatly en- 
hanced by the quiet beauty of the splendid architecture 
which lines both sides of the avenue. This background 
of imposing splendor is further enriched by the most 
interesting succession of alluring shop windows that ever 
dazzled and delighted the eyes of mortal women. This 
is New York's latest shopping district, and as everything 
is practically just from the builders' hands, every mod- 
ern idea in construction and decoration has here found 
its full expression. The prevailing color is white, either 
Indiana limestone, granite or marble, and as New York 
long ago adopted electricity in place of the primeval 
practice of burning soft, smutty, sooty coal, the result is 
a cheerful brightness that is deliciously stimulating. A 
XII Century palace, still standing on the Grand Canal 
in Venice, has been drawn upon to furnish the main motif 
in the building of a jewelry firm. Italian Renaissance 
is a dominant note in many other structures, nor is their 
beauty confined to the outside. The interiors are a 
revelation in decorative art. Color schemes are care- 
fully studied. Rare marbles, bronze work, coffered 
classical ceilings, are features. Woodwork of mahogany 
and Circassian walnut, both hand carved and plain. 
Shimmery curtains, rich hangings of damask, satin, silk 
and velvet, protect the show windows. 

248 



Few streets contain so many stores that are widely 
and favorably known. Quite a few have foreign 
branches that enable them to enjoy an international rep- 
utation. The world's leading jeweler is perhaps the 
most famous, although at 27th Street is a friend of the 
book lover the world over. Another shop is the happy 
habitat of the wedding gift. There seems to be every 
conceivable kind of a shop along the avenue, dealing in 
every conceivable kind of a human want. Their adver- 
tising patter is an interesting study in the curiosities 
of English literature. Amid breathless silence, so to 
speak, the announcement is made that orders for such 
and such a "model" will now be "accepted." Which 
always reminds one of the country weekly solemnly in- 
forming an expectant world that "Mr. William Smith 
has resigned from the Livery Stable to accept a posi- 
tion with the railroad." Freely translated, this means 
that Bill was fired out of one job and grabbed another 
as quickly as he could. "Corsetiere" means just a cor- 
set maker. "Togs" means clothes when the writer can't 
think of anything else to say. "Lingerie" or "under- 
things," means the shirts, drawers, nightgowns of the 
Victorian Age. A simple dress is a "gown." An expen- 
sive one is a "creation." "Style" is "model." A 
"coatee" is a short coat. Shades are "heavenly," laces 
are "foamy"; it's "breeches" uptown and "pants" down- 
town. "Artistry" is skill in design. 

ISAAC ROOSEVELT, having reiDaired his Sugar 
House, is now carrying on his business of refining 
as formerly, and has for sale (by himself and Son) 
at his house, 159 Queen Street, opposite the Bank, 
Loaf, Lump, and strained Muscovado Sugars and 
Sugar House Treacle. The New Emission Money 
will be received in full value as payment. — N. Y. 
Journal, 1786. 

JACOB ASTOR, No. SI Queen Street, two doors 
from the Friends' Meeting House, has just im- 
ported from London, an elegant assortment of 
Musical Instruments, such as piano fortes, spinnits, 
piano forte guittars, hautboys, fifes, the best 

249 



violin strings, and all other kind of strings, music 
booics and papers, and every otlier article in the 
musical line, which he will dispose of on verv 
low terms for cash. — Ibid. 

ARCHIBALD GRACIE has removed his Count- 
ing-Room from his dwelling-house, No. 110 Broad- 
way, to his new Fire Proof Store, No. 52 Pine 
Street, where he has for sale, a few chests verv 
fine Hyson and half chests Souchong TEA. — Ibid'. 

ROBERT LENOX has for sale, remaining from 
the cargo of the ship Sansom, from Calcutta, an 
assortment of White Piece Goods; and, as usual, 
OLD MADEIRA WINE fit for immediate use. 

PETER GOELET, at the Golden Key, No. 48 
Hanover Square, has imported in the last vessels 
from London, a very large and general assortment 
of Ironmongery, Cutlery, Saddlery and Hardware. 

A person lately from London, now stopping at 
27 Little Dock Street, has a composition for sale 
that will destroy the very troublesome vermin 
commonly called Bugs. — Ibid. 

A variety of Muffs, Tippets, and Fur trimmings, 
among which are a few^ black Fox Muffs for 
gentlemen, may be had on reasonable terms at No. 
89 in William Street.— Ibid. 

The side streets, just off the avenue and crossing it 
at near angles, are as much a part of the avenue as if 
they were actually on the main line. Countless exquisite 
"Shoppees" dot these cross streets, all catering to what 
is known as "specialty" trade. If madam objects to 
the throngs in the greater stores, madam may come here, 
receive personal attention and enjoy an air of exclusive- 
ness not possible in the larger establishments. These 
little shops are patterned after their prototypes in Bond 
Street, London, and the Avenue de 1' Opera, Paris. 

SHOES. Double soles, though introduced, are 
quite the exception, and as for leather footwear, no 
lady of condition would dream of putting on any- 
thing so coarse. They are quite Gothic, and appro- 
priate to none but the lower orders. — Fashions note 
1300. 

Bird-of-Paradise yellow is a favorite color for 
satin gowns a I'Empire. 

The colors most in estimation are ponceau 
rose, cachcou-nut brown, American green, willow- 
green, and ethereal blue. 

250 



Bonnets are of a becoming shape and size — 
many of black or violet velvet, though those of 
white or tinted satin are rather more in favor 
with the higher classes. A drapery of black net is 
often added to the edge of these bonnets. Bonnets 
are worn rather more forward than they have been 
for some time past. 

Girard's masterpiece of Psyche has brought 
pallor into fasbion. It is so much the rage to 
look ethereal and delicate that a pot of rough can 
now be purchased for half a crown, and lotions, 
instead, are used to promote the interesting shade 
of the lily, which has of late subdued the rose. 

Physicians and doctors of divinity have de- 
clared that the scanty clothing prescribed by 
fashion is indelicate as well as unhealthful, but 
do they not speak of deaf ears? "What doctor, be 
he D. D. or M. D., could outweigh a fashion- 
book? The arbiters of taste never seem to care 
to invent anything to protect women from cold 
and damp, and even when common sense forces 
one to put on heavy, warm clothing, its wearer 
is deemed either insane or a hopeless invalid. 

I don't know why I enjoy writing about stores unless 
it be that my folks always come home exhausted from 
shopping. "The long waits are so fatiguing," they ex- 
plain. When I venture to remark that I am never kept 
waiting, I am met with a glance of withering scorn 
and the remark, "Of course not; you're a man." To 
the feminine mind this belated discovery is all sufficient. 
No further explanation is ever vouchsafed. 

The stores are so close together and the stocks so 
vast that I should think it would be an ideal place for 
this great American pastime. But apparently I am not 
qualified to judge, so perhaps I better stop and write 
about clubs, for the Avenue and its side streets are the 
homes of clubdom. All these with social aspirations 
are engaged in making the world safe for democracy. 
The Knickerbocker, for instance, limits its membership 
to descendants of Dutch settlers in New York. To get 
a clear idea of what this means read Knickerbocker's 
History of New York. The Union, at 51st Street, is 

251 



similarly limited to the pre-Revolutionary English set- 
tlers. My woid ! The St. Nicholas, at West 44th Street, 
is limited to the descendants of old New York families — 
English, Scotch, Dutch, French, Spanish, and all that 
polyglot population, from whence came the eighteen dif- 
ferent tongues which the English acquired when they 
finally took possession in 1664, and which they have been 
at pains to increase ever since. 

The Brook Club, just around the corner on 40th 
Street, is said to be a social club, so let it go at that. 
Its list of members includes all the young bloods in 
town. The architect who designed the New York Yacht 
Club is still at large. None of these clubs are open to 
visitors, so we may as well look at something else. 

Fashionable photographers, dealers in old silver, rare 
items for collectors, oriental rugs, diamonds, jewelry, 
pearls, bric-a-brac and other purveyors to the ultra- 
wealthy make up the remainder of the list. It is said 
that articles of higher values can be had on Fifth Ave- 
nue than in any other city in the world and it is a mat- 
ter of record that sales aggregating more than a million 
dollars have been consummated by a well known art 
dealer at one short interview. It is certainly a marvelous 
street. The rents are enormous. One little shop 25x100 
near 42nd Street was quoted at $25,000 per year. It 
was speedily taken. A whole building costs a king's 
ransom. 

There are no such wonderful book stores as on the 
Avenue and nearby. Bookshops are generally supposed 
to be a guide to the cultural and educational aspirations 
of a community, and it appears that our great and glor- 
ious country is very much behind foreign nations, includ- 
ing the Scandinavian, in the number and importance 
of these establishments. The Avenue, however, is ap- 
parently an exception. Roosevelt's publishers are up 

252 



beyond 50th Street and have a beautiful place. The 
work of Ibanez^ the great Spanish novelist, was intro- 
duced in this country by a noted house a block or two 
above. That splendid, virile American and ex-fighter in 
the Civil War, good old Major Putnam, has a splendid 
establishment just off the Avenue in 45th Street. A 
famous dry goods shop also has a wonderful book sec- 
tion, fitted up specially so you can "browse," as their 
advertisements say. I don't know what the bookseller 
would do without that word "browse." Seems to me it 
would be much better to sell the customer a lot of books 
and let him do his "browsing" at home. Righto ! 

In the upper part of the Avenue there are a number of 
decorators and antique shops of a peculiar type. Their 
salons and galleries are fitted up without regard to cost 
and they occupy as a rule the most exclusive and expen- 
sive buildings obtainable. 

What struck me as the peculiar thing about them was 
the utter lack of attention which greets you when you 
enter. In some places your presence is plainly resented. 
In others you are asked if you have an appointment and 
the horrified manner in which your negative reply is 
received is sufficient to convince you that you have com- 
mitted an unforgivable crime. In a majority of cases 
you are simply ignored; in one instance a rug dealer 
imparted the information that he wasn't selling rugs 
that day, to come around next week. 

All this, however, is not discourtesy. It is simply their 
way of doing business. They do not cater to the hoi 
poilloi. Their clients are few. But they spend a fortune 
when they do come in. Consequently everything that 
might interfere with immediate attention upon their arri- 
val is not to be considered for a moment — even the brief 
delay occasioned by murmuring a few words of apology 
while dismissing you. They know their business and 
what seems rudeness to us arises from an altogether and 

253 



perfectly legitimate policy. The art dealers, on the 
other hand, are exactly the opposite. They invite the 
public to look at their pictures and give free exhibitions 
all the time. The dealers in rare prints, old and val- 
uable books, first editions, autograph letters of famous 
men, etc., are here in goodly numbers. Some very won- 
derful items are occasionally found in their stocks. 
There is not, however, any counterpart in number of the 
celebrated second hand shops which abound in England 
and Continental cities, nor since the death of "Joe" 
Sabin is there any particular place where bibliophiles are 
wont to foregather and discuss the latest auction or the 
latest "find." The nearest approach to such a section is 
on Fourth x\ venue near 14th Street, where quite an 
aggregation of talent has congregated in late years and 
this may in time correspond to the region we have in 
tnind. 

Coming up the Murray Hill district of the avenue one 
stops involuntarily to admire the dignified and impress- 
ive outlines of New York's great Public Library. With 
a sigh one recalls the sudden death by accident of the 
great architect whose brain planned this classic edifice 
just a week before its formal opening. The doors of 
the still unopened building swing back to permit the body 
of John M. Carrere to rest for a moment in the rotunda 
of what was to be the crowning achievement of his career. 
It was a graceful and beautiful tribute. Some idea of 
the size and service of this institution may be gained 
from these figures: 

The year's visitors numbered about 3,000,000. The cost 
of operating the building for a year is $90,000. This 
is borne by the board of trustees. The cost of the re- 
pairs, borne by the city, amounts to $45,000. More than 
2,000,000 books were consulted by persons using the 
reference department. Almost 10,000,000 volumes were 
taken out by borrowers from the circulation departments 

254 







:|l*.Sfej: 




A glimpse of Bryant Park showing the Bush Terminal Sales- 
room Building in the background. The elevated runs along 
Sixth Avenue. The small building is a Y. M. C. A. hut. 




A corner of Bryant Park showing Bush Sales Building on 42nd 
Street in the distance. 



throughout the city. In addition to the regular branch 
librarTes, about 50,000 volumes were distributed through 
417 special agencies of the extension division. 

Back of the Public Library Is Bryant Park 

This attractive little spot occupies the remaining half 
of Reservoir Square belonging to the city and lying be- 
tween Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue between 40th and 
4,2nd Streets. It was formerly the distributing reservoir 
for the first Croton Aqueduct. The Public Library now 
stands on the site of the Egyptian-like structure well re- 
membered by many of our citizens. In the 50 s it came 
into brief prominence as the site of the famous Crystal 
Palace— the first of what we now call ^World's Fairs. 
All the foreign countries sent fine exhibits and it helped 
greatly to make New York much better known in Europe 
It was a huge sensation and. made its exit m a great 
fire that was even more spectacular. 

The park is named after the well-known poet, Willian> 
Cullen Bryant, whose home was at 34 West 16th Street. 
He was at that time one of the owners of the Evening 
Post, originally established by Alexander Hamilton. 
There is a statue of him by Herbert Adams on the east 

side. -. 

During the Civil War, Union troops were encamped 
here and the disgraceful Draft Riots began with an 
attack on the colored Orphan Asylum nearby, at iSrd 
Street and Fifth Avenue. 

But the most interesting object in the park is the 
imposing bust of Washington Irving, heroic size, for 
many years New York's First Citizen. 

Irving, who first gained European recognition for 
American letters, was born in William Street. He was 
an ardent New Yorker and his whimsical History of 
New York, which set two continents laughing, sells today 
as freely as the day it was published. It is now a 

257 




Sixth Avenue, showing one of the mascots of the Hippodrome, 

the Elephant. This is cur largest shuvv hoiis 




Fort-y.-second Street, east from Sixth Avenue. Tlu 
of the Public Library and Bryant Park, 
.l^olian Hall in centre 



north wins 



classic. The present-day New Yorker places him along 
with Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius or Homer in point of 
antiquity, yet he was a trustee of the old Astor Library 
and largely instrumental in securing the gift to the city 
from Mr. Astor, and was president of the commission 
formed to create Central Park. 

When he went to England in the midst of the War 
of 1812 he was at once cordially welcomed by Sir Walter 
Scott and his friends, not merely as a fellow craftsman 
of distinction, but as an American genius above the 
petty decisions of Cabinets regarding peace or war. 

We see him once more in the falling shadows of a 
closing day. It is in the garden of a friend's house 
in sunny Spain — and beyond are the storied columns of 
the ancient Alhambra. Two little girls are on his knee, 
to whom he is telling strangely fascinating tales. Child- 
ish laughter breaks upon the quiet scene. In the retired 
little English village of Hants still lives one of these 
little girls. Today, as ex-empress of a half-forgotten 
empire, its people once more in the van of European 
civilization, does Eugenie Marie de Montijo recall the 
days of merry, carefree childhood and that cultured, 
gentle scholar from old New York? Probably not. A 
recent letter to the writer from Her Majesty's Lady-in- 
Waiting regretted that the war work of the Empress 
precluded any literary contributions at present. 

Other statues in the Park are of Dr. J. Marion Sims 
and a memorial fountain to Josephine Shaw Lowell, 
social worker and philanthropist. In the Republican 
Club on 40th Street, opposite the park, is a collection 
of rare prints and maps of old New York. The Engi- 
neers' Club is on the same street. It has a most imposing 
building. 

* * -x- * * 

"The Little Church Around the Corner" is a familiar 
name for the Church of the Transfiguration, on East 

260 



29th Street, near Fifth Avenue. The story goes that 
when in 1871 Joseph Jefferson endeavored to arrange 
for the funeral of George Holland, a brother actor, at 
a church on Madison Avenue, the pastor said that he 
could not hold burial services over the body of an actor. 
"But," he added, "there is a little church around the 
corner you can go to." "Then all honor to the little 
church around the corner," replied Jefferson. "We will 
go there." From that time the church and its rector, 
Rev. George H. Houghton (who died in 1897), were 
held in affectionate regard by the theatrical profession. 
Many actors have been buried from the church, ^mong 
them Lester Wallack, Dion Boucicault and Edwin Booth. 
There is a memorial window given by the Players (the 
actors' club), in loving memory of Booth. 

No mention of the Avenue would be complete with- 
out reference to that wonderful organization, the Y. M. 
C. A. During the great war work its offices were in the 
Ziegler Building, corner 43rd Street, but it had two other 
auxiliary buildings nearby on Madison Avenue. All their 
work was directed from this vicinity and the whole world 
knows the gigantic tasks they accomplished. 

The Headquarters of the Red Cross were also on the 
Avenue, at 38th Street. 

The Pageants of War 

For the last two j^ears Fifth Avenue has been a riot 
of motion and color. First came the Preparedness 
Parade, in which over a hundred thousand citizens joined. 
Then came the drafted men on their way to camp. 
Dressed in the clothes in which they came from work, 
surrounded by their sweethearts and sisters, the scene 
was deeply touching. In a few months these same citi- 
zen-soldiers again came on the Avenue. This time 
marching on to war. Trim, alert, guns at shoulder 
arms, colors flying, bands playing, the boys marched 

261 



down the Avenue to the enthusiastic applause of the 
crowd and the shouts of their friends. No one who 
saw this sight and contrasted these trim, smart looking 
soldier boys with the nondescript mob of a few months 
previous will ever forget the effect this transformation 
produced. It seemed unbelievable. The steady tramp, 
tramp of the seasoned veteran was in the regular cadence 
of that marching host, and we rc^^lized as never before 
that we had an army and an army of fighters. 

For weeks almost without cessation armies passed down 
the Avenue. Sometimes it w^as varied by a foreign regi- 
ment, i/ke the Canadian Highlanders. Then it was a 
regiment of Poilus direct from France, or Belgians, 
x\nzacs and Italians. Again it would be a handful of 
Czecho-Slavs enroute from Russia. Then it would be a 
host of our own boys, this time from California or Mon- 
tana or the South. There seemed no end to them. 
Tramp, tramp, tramp; halt; forwvard, march! And the 
procession started again. 

When all the soldiers had gone — there always seemed 
to be just one more detachment — then came the others. 
The grand army of Red Cross Nurses; the countless 
number of war workers of every description; Y. M. C. 
A. men; Y. W. C. A. women; K. of C. men; Yeoman- 
ettes; Salvation Army Lassies; Hospital Units; Ambu- 
lance Drivers; Machine Gunners; Flying Squadrons; 
Aeroplanes; Army Transport Motors; Motorcycles; 
Doctors, Surgeons, Stretcher Bearers, First Aid Sta- 
tions, and every other conceivable contrivance necessary 
to win the war. Few who witnessed these stirring scenes 
in the early months of 1918 will live to forget them, and 
now that it is happily over, none care to do so. It 
was all very wonderful and very impressive. Yet never 
again, let us hope, will the Avenue be called upon to 
witness the like. With all its enthusiasm, all its cheers, 
the significance of the scene could not be concealed and 
tears lay close to the smiles and the din of cheering. 

262 



Armistice Day 

Througliout this two years of pomp and pageantry 
the Avenue was keenly conscious of the deep solemnity 
which underlaid every demonstration. No spirit of lev- 
ity was ever present. The stern reality of war in all 
its hideousness brooded over all. Small wonder was it, 
therefore, that on the afternoon of November 11th a 
huge wave of uncontrollable emotion swept over the city 
at a report that the war was over ! Although the news 
was promptly contradicted, the long pent up feelings of 
the populace could no longer be held in check. 

No intimation that such an early ending of the war 
had been given. The newspapers were still talking of 
"next spring"; troops were still hurrying aboard trans- 
ports and everywhere the energies of the people were 
bent on "winning the war," when a great din of whistles, 
cheers and noises of every description suddenly rent the 
air, sending thousands to the windows, to the telephone 
and to the street to learn the cause of the commotion 
and to receive in answer the magic word "Peace !" The 
feelings of the moment beggar description. From office, 
store and factory poured multitudes. Joining in im- 
promptu processions, they made for the Avenue. Ve- 
hicles of all sorts were immediately banished from the 
thoroughfare, that the seething crowds might have room. 
There seemed no ordered plan or purpose. People just 
joined in; they all walked one way. The Avenue was 
jammed from wall to wall and the whole mass moved 
slowly in one direction. Flags waved, horns tooted, all 
sorts of things that would make a noise were hastily 
improvised. For the first time in nearly four years the 
air of gloom had disappeared. Oh, the joy, the relief! 

When the clerks, salesmen, workers and bosses had 
suddenly walked out and disappeared for the day — 
offices, factories and stores automatically closed. Some 
one threw a spool of ticker paper out of a window, hold- 

263 



ing the end in his hand. The long streamer thus cre- 
ated caught the popular fancy and in a twinkling all 
over the city windows were raised and paper thrown out. 
Some ingenious person let loose a handful of small cut 
up pieces and this improvement was also imitated. In 
a moment the Avenue was in a snow storm of paper. 
When the frenzy had passed it was found that every 
available book in sight had been robbed of its pages, 
torn into shreds and sent hurtling into space. 

The whole thing was so spontaneous that every emo- 
tion was genuine. Strangers embraced each other. Men 
and women never before guilty of the slightest social 
infraction, threw custom to the winds. Locked in arms, 
long rows of staid and sober citizens joined the march- 
ing throngs^ sang, two stepped, tangoed and otherwise 
behaved in a thoroughly indecorous manner. The few 
wagons that indiscreetly strayed into the Avenue never 
got out; they were immediately commandeered by a 
happy joyous throng, who climbed on every available 
perch and there surveyed the passing show. Looking 
from a high window on the Avenue the sight was inde- 
scribable. Thousands were packed as far as the eye could 
reach. The huge mass swayed this way and that. There 
was no disorder, no display of bad temper. The police 
were powerless to cope with the crowd. They swept the 
traffic men and the iron traffic posts clear off the street. 
No living thing could withstand this onslaught. All one 
did was to go along with the crowd. It was an unfor- 
gettable scene; dramatic in its intensity, striking in its 
spontaneity. In a few hours the city looked as if a 
cyclone had struck it, but the disorder only added gaiety 
to the crowds. Such was Armistice Day on the Avenue. 
It will never be forgotten. 

Return of General Pershing and the First Division, 
Formal End of War Parades. 

With the magnificent tribute paid to the returning 
Commander and his victorious troops of the First Divis- 

264 



ion, the long series of War pageants on Fifth Avenue 
may be said to have come to a final close. 

Of all the pictures in all the pageants in the avenue 
of a thousand parades none will stay fresher on memory's 
film than that of Pershing on his five mile ride. 

A soldier of soldiers astride a bay horse, pelted with 
cheers and with roses, his men following on. A man for 
the people to spend their enthusiasm upon, for whom they 
have been waiting. 

Gen. Pershing, astride a beautiful bay, the eye filling, 
satisfying picture of the man on horseback — not a man 
on horseback of sinister foreboding, but a man on 
horseback of golden performance, he was. A half 
block up from the stand he had spied his boy and his 
sisters in the box reserved for their use. He had saluted 
them with a smile. But now, at just twenty minutes 
after ten, he was about to salute that which was after 
all the inspiration of his whole career. 

Thirty thousand men with all their gear, from airplane 
to trench mortar, from staff limousine to elephantine 
truck, from fat breeched howitzer to vicious light mitrail- 
leuse, from the General's charger to the gargantuan cater- 
pillars which drew the guns — for three hours and a half 
they moved without ceasing past the reviewing stand at 
Eighty-second Street. They left 110th Street on the 
stroke of 10 in the morning an4 it was 3:20 in the after- 
noon when the last of them had passed through the 
Washington Arch. 

MADISON AVENUE, MURRAY HILL. GRAND CENTRAL STATION AND 

PARK AVENUE. THE MORGAN LIBRARY, DIANA ON THE TOWER. 

MADISON SQfUARE GARDEN AND THE HORSE SHOW. THE 

GREAT METROPOLITAN TOWER. 

Next in social importance as a residential street in 
the old days was Madison Avenue. Starting at 23rd 
Street, this avenue for many years was the only rival 
to Fifth. Today nothing remains of its former polite 

265 




The Metropolitan Tower, INIadison Square. ^Madison Square 
Garden on the left 



grandeur. The residence of S. L. M. Barlow, a once 
noted lawyer, stood on the corner of the avenue and 
23rd Street. This entire block is now occupied by the 
vast buildings of an insurance company, which extends 
back to Fourth Avenue, demolishing in its expansion 
the old Academy of. Design and the ultra-fashionable 
Lyceum Theatre, the scene of the early labors of the 
late Charles Frohman. The New York prototype of 
Christie's famous London auction room is on the south 
side. Some famous collections have been dispersed. here, 
the May Jane Morgan sale, with its famous peach blow 
vase, among them. The chief features of the huge 
Metropolitan Building are its wonderful interior stair- 
way, a reproduction of the similar entrance to the Grand 
Opera House in Paris, and its tower and clock. 

The clock dials are of reinforced concrete, 
faced with mosaic tile and are 26^/^ feet in 
diameter. The figures on the clock face are four 
feet high. The minute hand is seventeen feet long 
and weighs one thousand pounds. The hour hand 
is 131,2 feet long, weighs 750 pounds. The bells 
vary in weight from 7 to 15,000 pounds. The 
tongue weighs 200 pounds, and strikes every hour, 
and a set of Handel chimes proclaims the quarter 
hours. After dark a white flash from the summit 
indicates the hour; the quarter hours in one, two, 
three, and four red flashes. The clock is visible 
for twenty miles. Electric power is used and the 
whole is set 350 feet above the sidewalk. One has 
to view it from a neighboring high building to get 
a "close up" and thus realize its immensity. 

The most important thing from a visitor's point of 
view is the tower, which is about 700 feet high. Admis- 
sion to the Observation Gallery is 50 cents. Select a 
day when the wind blows northwest. 

Opposite the Metropolitan is Dr. Parkhurst's Church, 
the last work of the late Stanford White. Critics go in 
raptures over this structure and point out its many artis- 
tic qualities. The building is very low and has a dome 
and minarets like a Moorish temple. Engaged Ionic 
columns form the entrance. All this may be art, but 
for a sacred edifice it is the most frivolous looking struc- 

267 



ture ever conceived by the mind of man. For a "movie" 
house it vrould be fine. The site has recently been pur- 
chased by the Metropoltian, and this burlesque on relig- 
ion will be removed, for which much thanks. 

On the next block is the highly ornate Appellate Court 
House, a really dignified and impressive building. The 
several statues which adorn this building make an inter- 
esting approach and lend a judicial atmosphere to the 
structure. The interior mural decorations are much 
above the average and are justly famous. All the great 
artists are represented by some of the most important 
work they have ever executed. By all means visit the 
Appellate. It is a liberal education in mural painting. 
Go in the morning when the court is not in session. 

On the corner of 26th Street is the home of the Man- 
hattan Club, the leading Democratic club in the city, and 
the rival of the Union League. 

The famous Madison Square Garden comes next, 
occupying an entire block. It is the home of the horse 
show. This event marks the formal opening of the social 
season in New York. The building shows the influence 
of the Alhambra in Spain. The statue of Diana on the 
tower is famous. Designed by Stanford White, who 
met his death here in its roof garden at the hands of 
Harry K. Thaw in 1906. 

The beautiful offices of the Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty to Animals is directly opposite. It was found- 
ed by Henry Bergh. The Society had as its original 
founders such men as Peter Cooper, James Lenox, Ham- 
ilton Fish, John Jacob Astor, Jr., August Belmont, John, 
Wesley and Fletcher Harper. It retains to this day a 
similar impressive membership. 

On East 27th Street, just a few steps off the avenue, 
is the lineal descendant of the old French Huguenot 
Church that originally stood in Petticoat Lane (see tab- 
let on Produce Exchange) — the Church du Saint Esprit. 
The Huguenots from New Rochelle walked every Sun- 

268 



day to the old church and returned the same daJ^ All 
the old Huguenot families in the city have been connected 
with this church in some way or other since its establish- 
ment in 1688. 

The avenue is fast filling up with loft and business 
buildings beyond this point. Few residences now remain. 
Most of them are vacated by the owners and are await- 
ing business tenants. The most conspicuous exception 
is the J. P. Morgan house, occupying the block between 
36th and S7th Streets. Mr. Morgan lives in the 37th 
Street corner. The library is, of course, one of the most 
famous in the world. Its treasures include some of the 
rarest items known to collectors. The manuscripts are 
probably its most unique possessions; they include nine 
of Scott's novels; Pope's "Essay on Man/' Milton's 
"Paradise Lost," Burns' "Cotters' Saturday Night/' 
Dickens' "Christmas Carol/' etc. It is, however, only 
an aggravation to dwell upon these, as the library is 
not open to the public and the librarian, Miss Belle De 
Costa Greene, is not over liberal in granting permission 
for strangers to pay it a visit. Still, she uses intelligent 
discrimination in making exceptions, and a properly 
worded request has been known to produce results. 

The name Murray Hill comes from Robert Murray, 
whose farm it was. 

The American troops narrowly escaped capture at 
this point, following their defeat at the Battle of Long 
Island. Aaron Burr was leading them to safety in Har- 
lem when the British sought to cut off their retreat. 
Mrs. Murray entertained some passing British Generals 
and made them so comfortable that the Continental 
troops were well north of the hill 'ere the officers de- 
cided to bestir themselves. A skirmish occurred at about 
Fifth Avenue from 3 8th to 42nd Streets, but by the time 
the English threw their line across the island the last 
American soldier had already passed to safety. 

269 



At the 37tli Street corner, northwest, is the residence 
of Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes. The huge granite struc- 
ture on the opposite corner is the residence of the late 
Joseph De Lamar, who made millions in mining. 

The town house of Percy Pyne, 2nd, whose grand- 
father founded the great National City Bank, is on 
the north corner of 40th Street, and opposite the resi- 
dence of William Rockefeller, brother of John D. The 
rest of the avenue to 42nd Street is given up to busi- 
ness. At 42nd Street we come into a new region of 
office buildings, hotels and the Grand Central Terminal. 

Forty-Second Street and Pershing Square 

This thoroughfare has immensely expanded during 
the past few years. It is the main artery of the Grand 
Central Terminal Zone and its marvellous accessibility 
has resulted in the building up of a community almost 
of its own. In the modest language of John McE. Bow- 
man, it is the "Heart of the World." General Wingate's 
magnificent Victory Hall is planned to occupy the Park 
Avenue corner of Pershing Square. The new viaduct 
is also completed. It is an important section of New 
York. 

Four railroad trunk lines have stations on the street. 

Over 100,000 passengers use the Grand Central Term- 
inal Station each day. 

70,930,934 subway and elevated tickets were sold at 
42nd Street stations during the year ending June 30^ 
1919. 

More than 7,000 subway and elevated trains stop here. 

More than 10,000,000 visitors dine annually in hotels^ 
restaurants and cafes. 

It has eleven theatres, with 16,233 seats and an aver- 
age weekly attendance of 129,864. 

Nine New York Stock Exchange firms maintain thor- 
270 




-=&iSa,isr^s;™o^°^°"--= 




"^^^ M!a\t n^t^"^''^-'; P^^«hi"g Square, Park Avenue and Forty-sec, 

Also the network of transportation lines, overhead and undergr^un 

Hill, Belmont, Manhattan, Biltmore. Commodore, .^^tn.ll K,„-u;, 



re, Commodore. Small buildii 
Forty-second Street is the end 





"t Showing group of hotels adjoining the Grand Central Terminal. 
.ting at this ?oint. The hotels are from left to right. Murray 
centre is the railroad station. The bridge leading to it across 
fs new Park Avenue Viaduct 



oughly equipped branch offices with private wire service. 

Seven national banks and trust companies and two 
savings banks. 

One department store with 2,600 employees. 

More electricity is used for lighting purposes than in 
any average city throughout the world. 

Nearly every kind of business is located on the street. 

All leading parades cross it. 

Four churches with over 6,000 members. 

The New York Public Library, with a circulation of 
2,598,109 volumes, is located on the Fifth Avenue corner. 

One public school with 1,700 pupils and 38 teachers. 

Five telegraph offices. 

Two telephone exchanges, handling more calls each 
day than any city of 250,000 population. 

Two hundred and fifty new buildings, with an aggre^ 
gate investment of over $200,000,000, have been erected 
in this section during the past ten years. 

Altogether this is one of the liveliest streets in town. 

The private residences that lined both sides of Mad- 
ison Avenue north of 42nd Street for the next mile or 
two are all gone. The Manhattan Hotel occupies the 
entire block between 42nd and 43rd Streets, and diag- 
onally across stands the magnificent Biltmore. Beyond 
that is a great business building and the new Yale Club. 
St. Bartholomew's Church, with its famous bronze doors, 
in memory of Cornelius Vanderbilt, is now at 50th 
Street and Park Avenue. A twenty-story Christian Sci- 
ence Building takes its place. Two large retail stores 
among the finest in the city come next, one a men's 
shop and the other a most wonderful sporting goods 
house. One of the chain of Ritz Hotels comes next. 
The criminal activities of Von Bernstorff and Dernburg 
during our pre-war experience were conducted from this 
place. 

274 



Following the Ritz come wonderful apartment houses. 
They are the last word in luxury. Some are so arranged 
that in event of the family's absence and the master 
being detained in town, household routine will go on 
just the same. Servants enter, do the necessary work, 
supply fresh flowers and then depart. At night, any 
kind of a dinner ordered by the master, simple or elab- 
orate, will be ready at the hour designated by him. 
Rents of these apartments are from $30,000 to $40,000 
per annum. The most expensive ones are fully rented 
and have a waiting list. 

We will now draw a line on the map across 42nd 
Street. That is another natural dividing line. The 
theatre district, which begins at Broadway and 42nd 
Street and goes north, will be treated next. Aside from 
the theatres, we have now sketched practically every- 
thing of interest below Central Park. 



276 




i s ^- s s ^ 

^ C »> M c h 

(L) W tf) W J"* 



t ^-d\\]i. PiMitb III Gramercy Park, erected by '"The 
I'laAtis" — ihc chil) founded by Booth 




THE GREAT WHITE WAY 

THF THEATRES. UNUSUAL NOVELTIES IN PLAY HOUSES. LUX" 
, Jk^OUS MOVING PICTURE PALACES. THE GIGANTIC HIPPO- 

' DROME REVIVAL OF THE "INTIMATE" ROOF GARDENS. 

C^B^RETS. OUT DOOR PAGEANTS. THE LEWISOHN 
1 STADIUMS. MUSIC HALLS. GRAND OPERA COM- 

' MUNITY SINGING. LECTURES. INTEL- 
LECTUAL RECREATION. 

4<-pviRECT From Broadwcay, Original New York 
L^ Cast " So runs the legend on the bills that an- 
nounce the coming of another New York success to the 
provinces. And vet many a good play has failed m the 
Metropolis only to find unbounded success on the road. 
Oh, the joy of being the rejected stone that becomes 
the chief stone of the corner ! 

Well, here you are right in New York, and on Broad- 
way, too. Some two thousand places of entertainment 
are open for you. Which shall you choose— comedy, 
tragedy, light opera, grand opera, vaudeville, circus con- 
cerf, pantomime, recitals of all kinds, or movies? About 
seventy-five or eighty of these houses are legitimate, 
serious theatres, featuring the best productions and em- 
ploying the highest class talent. The balance are mostly 
photoplays, ranging from $2 admission down .to five 
cents. 

Aside from the theatre, with which every one is famil- 
iar New York rejoices in several unconventional enter- 
prises materially different from the usual run. The 

279 



Hippodrome, for instance, is unlike any other playhouse 
in America, and everything in it is planned on a scale 
so enormous as to belittle all others by comparison. It 
is mainly given up to a performance which pleases the 
eye more than anything else. It has a perfectly mar- 
vellous and enormous water tank, which extends under 
the entire huge stage. It's patent-secret construction 
enables the players to submerge and disappear com- 
pletely. No one has yet been able to fathom the mys- 
tery. It seems certain that they must positively perish. 
You have hardly recovered from the shock of the trag- 
edy (?) 'ere the whole host blithely reappear, climb out 
of the water and burst gaily into song! This is one 
of the most baffling illusions ever produced in the mimic 
world. The stage is larger itself than the whole of 
an ordinary theatre, and the auditorium in proportion, 
consequently speaking parts are practically out of the 
question except for the actor with a voice like a mega- 
phone. The plays are ^ostly spectacular with plenty 
of chorus singing and several old-time circus acts in 
which an elephant usually appears. The late Fred 
Thompson, who conceived the Hippodrome, thought the 
elephant an emblem of good luck and adopted this for 
his chief scheme of decoration. We all go there once 
a year, at least, and oftener when we can pick up some 
small nephews or nieces to furnish an excuse for going 
again. 

The next unique playhouse is undoubtedly the one 
where moving pictures are given with a wonderful or- 
chestra of about fifty players, and in addition a good 
soloist or quartette. The stage is gorgeously grand, pro- 
ducing a stunning effect. It has special lighting arrange- 
ments, and the whole schenre is decidedly pleasing and 
refined. It has certainly done much to elevate the stand- 
ard of the movies, and is a great success. Other houses 
have since followed suit, and we now have the Rivoli, 

280 



the Capitol and the Rialto, in addition to the Strand, 
and those visitors who have not been able to patronize 
anything but the local livery stable turned into an open- 
air theatre will be very much impressed by the elaborate- 
ness of the movie in New York. 

At the same time it must be admitted that many small- 
, er communities saw the possibilities of high class moving 
pictures before New York did and our first attempt came 
as the result of representations from out-of-town men. 
The success which has attended the effort to give the 
"movie" in a building specially built for them may 
ultimately suggest to producers that the employment of 
brains in the construction of the plays themselves might 
"also prove equally profitable. 

There are also a number of "intimate" theatres, as 
they are called— small places seating from one hundred 
and fifty to three hundred persons. Here you avoid the 
vulgar crowd and usually see one of those wholly unin- 
teresting but excessively intellectual productions that re- 
quire a small auditorium in order that the audience may 
be seen with the naked eye. This season, however, the 
show business has been so profitable that several gen- 
uinely good plays have found their way into these dra- 
matic cold storage vaults, and have played to capacity. 
This development has also shown that the small theatre 
has its attractions, and they have grown in popularity 
quite amazingly. They also rejoice in a new school 
of nomenclature, like "The Bandbox," "The Little The- 
atre," "The Punch and Judy," etc., which is a dis- 
tinct improvement over naming it after the plumber who 
built the structure or the gasfitter who owned the lot. 

That these miniature houses present intelligently se- 
lected plays that are actuated by a serious purpose is 
shown by the great success of some of the offerings. 
"The Better 'Ole" started in the Greenwich Village The- 
atre, moved up to Broadway and has achieved a nation- 

281 



wide success. The Provincetcnvii Players^ largely re- 
cruited from a bunch of amateurs, who played for their 
own amusement in that delightful Cape Cod hamlet of 
this name, gave some very creditable performances and 
showed that there was still a chance for originality in 
New York. 

The most ambitious attempt to oifer plays witliout 
fear of financial results was undoubtedly tried in the 
heavily endowed Century Theatre. The result proved 
disastrous. A large fortune was sunk and the results 
were disheartening. Not alone were the plays worth- 
lesSj but the attempt proved once more that a genius 
cannot be developed by any hot-house process. The cry 
that new writers are not w^anted, that the old clique 
keeps out everybody else is still the plaint of unsuccess- 
ful playwrights. The yearly success of unknown writ- 
ers nevertheless keeps on and each season produces its 
Eugene Walter and Bruce Bairnsfather or "John Fer- 
guson." 

For a slight advance (fifty cents) tickets for all the 
popular successes are usually obtainable at any of the 
hotel offices. It is hardly worth while trying to save 
this half dollar if you want to see the show the night 
you apply. While this seems something of an imposi- 
tion, it is really a convenience to persons whose time 
does not permit of postponement. In London there is a 
similar charge for "booking," as they call it over there. 
In both cases the customer is saved the trouble of going 
to the theatre personally. So don't let this charge spoil 
your temper and your enjoyment of the evening. There 
are many other petty exactions in the city infinitely more 
exasperating than this. 

The dail}^ papers contain announcements of all the 
current plays, together with location of the theatre. If 
time permits it is well to arrange your theatre engage- 
ments a week or two in advance when you first arrive. 

282 






There is always more or less trouble to get a good seat 
at a popular success even with this precaution. 

The theatre district is quite easily reached from almost 
anv part of the city. Taxis being smaller, are much 
better for this purpose than a huge private car and 
easily obtainable. The entire list of attractions playing 
in the city is usually displayed in a bulletin board on 
the newspaper stand of the hotel. 

The summer season is not the best time to judge New- 
York theatrically. Most of the best houses are closed, 
but the girl and music show is generally in evidence all 
through the vear. The roof garden is recommended 
for a" sultry night, but it is a sad strain on credulity 
to describe* any of these performances as entertaining. 
There is a tendency to improve them each year, how- 
ever, and it may be that in time they will not be as 
they chiefly are today— a very poor excuse for taking 
two dollars from any one's pocket. Along with the hat 
check extortion, and other petty graft for which the 
town is celebrated, the average roof garden show has 
them all beaten to a standstill. 

In the back of this book is a list of the prominent 
theatres and their locations. For the most part they are 
within five minutes of the corner of Broadway and 42nd 
Street, a pokit easily reached from any part of tow^n by 
subway, elevated or surface car or taxi. It is the center 
of the hotel district and the stranger will have little or 
no diflicultv in finding any particular place desired. A 
taxi may be had for a trifling sum and their use is a 
great comfort and convenience. 



283 




The Aviary, Central Park 



OUR BEAUTIFUL PUBLIC PARKS 



central, van cortlandt, bronx, the zoological gardens, the 

botanical gardens, pelham bay, interstate palisade 

park and bear mountain. 

Central Park 

T N a cit^ so small and so congested as is New York, 
it is something to brag about that we have given up 
the most desirable portion of it for the use of the gen- 
eral public. To deduct 843 acres out of a scant total of 
22,000 and deiw ourselves the vast revenue it would 
produce if devoted to ordinary usage, argues volumes for 
our public spirit. 

It is a triumph of the landscape artist and the results 
achieved out of barren soil, covered wuth rocks, is some- 
thing scai'cely believable. Work was commenced in 1857 
and completed a year later at a cost of four hundred and 
fifteen million dollars. That is to say, a beginning was 
made. The work never ends. There are now lakes and 
reservoirs covering 286 acres; 9 miles of carriage drives, 

286 



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Cleopatra's Needle — Central Park 



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Martyrs' Monument — Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn 



6 miles of bridle paths, 30 miles of walks, 36 bridges 
or arches, 12 tunnels, and seats for 1,000 persons. There 
are twentj'^-three gates very prettily named — Scholars' 
Gate, Woodman's Gate, Mariner's Gate, Warrior's Gate, 
Stranger's Gate, etc. The main entrances are on ,59th 
Street; perhaps the most convenient ones are on Fifth 
Avenue and 59th Street, reached by 'bus and by street 
cars and at Columbus Circle (59th Street and Broad- 
way), almost in front of the subway exit, west side. 

Park carriages make the tour of the park in one hour, 
fare 25 cents. They start from Fifth Avenue and 
Fifty-nineth Street and Columbus Circle and Fifty- 
ninth Street. 

A tour on foot is by far the most enjoyable. One 
also wants leisure to view the lake; to sit down for a 
moment in shady nooks and feed the swans and ducks. 

There is a small menagerie and a swan boat for the 
children. The cost of a ride is 5 cents. Ponies and 
donkeys (near Eagle Cage), are also fun for the chil- 
dren. Rides, 10 cents. 

The Mall is one of the principal avenues. It is about 
a mile in length and beautifully shaded with elms. A 
Jarge number of statues line the sides. The Scotsmen 
have erected two, the Danes one, the Germans one, the 
Irish one, the Italians one, the English one. Fitz Greene 
Halleck, an American, seems to have slipped in when 
the foreigners weren't looking. 

The Mall ends at the terrace commanding a line view 
of the lake with its sailing parties. The Esplanade has 
in the center a magnificent fountain. 

A row around the lake or a trip in the electric launch 
is well worth the trouble; fare, 10 cents. Party boats 
may also be had, one or two persons, 25 cents per hour, 
each extra person, 10 cents. With a man to row, 25 
cents per hour extra. There is no end of beautiful 
walks all through the park and the Ramble in the lower 

288 



edffe of the old reservoir is one full of pleasant sur- 
^rfses. There is a tower-The Belvedere, near the north 
end of the reservoir, which commands a fine view of 

the park. . . . n 4. ;i 

Cleopatra's Needle is interesting. It origmally stood 
in front of the temple of the Sun in Cairo and was 
erected about 1500 B. C. Its companion is owned m 
London. 

Many May parties, tennis and other sports are per- 
mitted "in certain sections of the beaut.ful grounds^ 
?here is music in the Mall Saturday afternoons and 
Sundays and Community Singing in front of the lake 
is very popular. Some wonderful publ^ pageants are 
also given in the grounds by school children and alto- 
gethe? there is no doubt that the e.ty receives hberal 
dividends in health and happiness of 'ts thousands of 
children, who would never see a tree or flower but for 
Central Park. 

Our Other Parks 

Biff as Central Park is, it does not compare with 
Van Cortlandt Park, 1,182 acres, with its wonderful 
golf courses; Bronx, which contains "S/ce^, and has 
the largest zoological garden in the world, and the most 
famous^otanieal Gardens; or Pelham Bay Park whid, 
faces the Sound at Pelham Bay. Including the Park- 
way, which connects it with Bronx, the total area is over 
1 756 acres. It has eight miles of salt water shore front, 
with boating, bathing, fishing, sand pits n>«"y-g°- 
ronnds etc These parks are easily reached by any ot 
TEast Side sub^va^s and by the West (with a shor 
transfer). A special Guide Book ,s published by the 
Zoological Garden management and sold for 25 cents. 
It is well worth buying, and gives a world of mforma- 
tion concerning the animals which we cannot give here^ 
The Monkey House, the Lion House, the Elephant 

289 



House, the Walrus Pool, the Deer Park, the Fox andj 
Wolf Dens, the Elk Mange, the Bird Houses, the Aviary j 
and all the wonderful birds and mammals are splendidly 
described. 

Bronx Park is reached directly by Bronx subway to 
180th Street or the elevated to Fordham station. Admis- 
sion is free, except Mondays and Thursdays, when 25 
cents for adults and 10 cent« for children is charged. 
Choose them and avoid the crowds. 

At the Botanical Garden a guide leaves the front door 
for the Museum Building on every afternoon at 3 P. M. 
to escort those who wish to accompany him. Each day 
the route is changed. This is the only way to properly 
see the Garden. 



Palisades Park, Bear Mountain Park and the 
Hudson River. 

Two new parKS not generally known to the outside 
public are the Palisade Inter-State Park, reached by 
ferry from foot of Dyckman Street, and Fort Tryon 
Park, at 193rd Street and Riverside Drive, a gift by John 
D. Rockefeller, Jr. Take West Side subway co Dyckman 
Street. The former park contains the wonderful pali- 
sades of the Hudson. It sl,?etches nearly twenty miles 
along the west bank of the river A vvonderful state 
road is now ir, process of constructicii and par"^ of it 
is now open. Striking views of the Hudson and of lower 
New York may be had frorr. many points on this road. 
Fort Trvon Park preserves the New York side of the 
Hudson opposite the Interstate and will be developed in 
harmony with it. 

Bear Mountain Park is about forty-five mile? from the 
city, in the heart of the Highlands of the Hudson. It is 
reached by several special boats, excursion $1.00, and by 
the Albany Day Line steamers. The scenery is impres- 

290 



sive; it is a wonderful possession for any city to have. 
West Point is only fifteen minutes further on and the 
two places can easily be visited in the one day. 

It was that eminent English jurist^ Lord Haldane, 
who marvelled that so beautiful a river so close to such 
a large city was not more popular with our people than 
he divined the Hudson to be^ judging from the few 
steamboats, yachts, etc., upon it. In this he was emi- 
nently right. The vast majority of New Yorkers know 
nothing about the majesty and beauty of this wonder- 
ful river that lies right at our doors. Coney Island, that 
land of hot dogs and merry-go-rounds, with its noisy 
crowd, draws a thousand New Yorkers to one that visits 
the Hudson. 

Travellers who have been the world over declare the 
Hudson has not only no rival, but has nothing even ap- 
proaching one. All along its crowded slopes nestle quaint 
little villages, some as old as New York itself. For so 
important a highway, commerce is strangely absent 
from its shores. In any European country such a natural 
and cheap method of communication would be black with 
sailing craft of all kinds, and huge derricks would be 
met with at frequent intervals. Nothing of the kind is to 
be seen on the Hudson. Aside from the few river boats 
that ply up and down daily, there is only to be seen an 
occasional brick schooner beating its way to the city or 
perhaps a long string of canal boats that have come from 
some point on the Erie Canal or Buffalo, and are slowly 
drifting to New York. Even the saucy tugboats that 
impart a w^onderful scene of activity and bustle all over 
the bay are seldom encountered farther up the river. 
Perhaps it is just as well. The river bank is almost 
wholly given up to magnificent private estates and sleepy 
little villages. 

Passing Inwood, which marks the end of Manhattan 
Island, we see just across the river the magnificent New 

291 



Interstate Palisade Park, which stretches in an unbroken 
line for nearly twenty miles along the most wonderful 
of all nature's creations — the Palisades of the Hudson. 
The States of New York and New Jersey united in the 
purchase of this magnificent playground for the people, 
and its acquisition accomplished a two-fold purpose — it 
added a park of rare natural beauty to the resources of 
the city, and preserved this most wonderful work of 
nature, the Palisades. 

The Palisade Inter State Park can be reached by 
Ferryboat from the foot of Dyckman Street. Take sub- 
way West Side and get off at Dyckman Street. It is 
worth seeing. 

At Tarrytown the river widens to almost four miles, 
and forms a body of water called Tappan Zee. It is also 
quite deep here, and when a sudden squall comes across 
the mountains from back of Nyack — a frequent occur- 
rence in summertime — it is apt to raise quite a good-sized 
cornmotion, the waves reaching quite a respectable height. 

After leaving the Tappan Zee we enter the southern 
gate of the Highlands and from now on the scenery is 
fascinating. In about an hour we have passed Peekskill 
Bay and are at Bear Mountain Park, in the heart of the 
Highlands. This park was made largely possible by the 
gift of over 10,000 acres of land by Mrs. E. H. Harri- 
man in memory of her great husband, E. H. Harriman, 
the famous railroad builder. Other land has since been 
acquired, roads built through, and a number of public 
improvements added, including row boats, swings for the 
children and many other attractions. There is no more 
beautiful spot in the world than Bear Mountain Park, 
and when New Yorkers fully realize its attractiveness 
they will go there by the hundred thousands. 

After leaving Bear Mountain Park the next important 
point which should be seen by all tourists is undoubtedly 
West Point, the famous military academy. The cadets 

292 



can be seen at drill and the grounds visited all in a very 
short time. This excursion should not be missed. The 
time consumed is about an hour and a half each way. 
The return fare is $1.00. It is a side trip well worth 
making. 

We are now in the very heart of the Highlands and 
the scenery is bewitching. Sometimes the boat almost 
touches the shore, so close runs the channel to the bank. 
Presently we pass Highland Falls, where the late Mr. 
Morgan lived, and right above it is the far-famed United 
States Military Academy of West Point. Directly in 
front of the Academy is Constitution Island, a present to 
the government by Mrs. Russell Sage. Beyond the 
island the river widens out. Crow's Nest, Dunderberg, 
Storm King, Break Neck and Beacon Mountains tower 
over the banks. As soon as the steamer emerges from 
the Highlands, the river opens into beautiful Newburgh 
Bay, with Cornwall on the west bank, Pollopel's Island 
in the centre of the river and the quaint city of New- 
burgh (26,000), county seat of Orange County, directly 
ahead. 

After leaving Newburgh, the whole character of the 
landscape changes and the river flows through a most 
beautiful and prolific country, well wooded and undul- 
ating. 

The stately yacht we have just passed belongs to young 
Vincent Astor, whose ancestral home, FernclifFe, is just 
above Poughkeepsie at Rhinebeck, almost adjoining the 
country home of the Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, As- 
sistant Secretary of the Navy. At Poughkeepsie, how- 
ever, the trip ends for the day. We catch the down 
boat from Albany, which lands us in New York about 
eight o'clock, greatly rested and hugely delighted with 
all the beauties and wonders we have seen. 



293 



^ 




THE UPPER WEST SIDE 

Riverside Drive 

THIS beautiful section begins at 72nd Street and 
stretches north along the Hudson River to the end 
of the island at Inwood Park. It can best be seen from 
the top of the Fifth Avenue 'buses, which traverse its 
entire length to 135th Street. The Broadway cars, the 
subway and the elevated all have stations at 72nd Street 
and the distance west to the Drive is not far. 

The drive is fast becoming the most beautiful as well 
as interesting park in the city. All the diverting pano- 
rama of marine life on the river is spread before the 
eyes of the onlooker. An anchorage for the Atlantic 
Division of the Navv extends along the shore from 90th 
Street up to Spuyten Duyvil. When the fleet is home 
the scene is one of exhilaration and the Jackies are pop- 
ular heroes. 

The broad tree-shaded boulevard, the pedestrian walks 
the bridle paths and the swiftly moving procession of 
shining automobiles all tend to make the drive a pop- 
ular resort for the people of the city on holidays and 

295 



special occasions. No buildings are permitted except 
on the east side, and the attractive outlook provided by 
the Hudson River has brought together a number of 
well-to-do families who have erected beautiful homes in 
this part of the city. And the apartments which also 
line the drive are of a distinctively superior type. One 
of the most interesting of the former is the home of 
Charles M. Schwab, at the corner of 73rd Street. It 
has an added interest to New Yorkers from the fact 
tliat on the death of Mr. and Mrs. Schwab the house 
and grounds will revert to the city. The present value 
of the property is over $3,000,000. All along the drive 
are other notable houses, monuments and statues. The 
residence of the late Bishop Potter at 89th Street, and 
next to the Scliwab house, is one of the most beautiful. 
At 76th Street is the Hamilton fountain, an ornate struc- 
ture sliaped as a drinking trough for horses. The Sol- 
diers' and Sailors' Monument, erected for those who fell 
in the Civil War. In front of the monument is a copy 
of Houdin's statute of Washington, a gift from school 
cliildren. 

At 93rd Street is the new Joan of Arc statute, part 
of the pedestal being made from stone which came 
from the recently demolished prison in Rouen, in which 
tlie Maid of Orleans was confined. At 96th Street is the 
Cliff Apartment House. Above the second elevation is 
a frieze in low relief carrying out symbolically the moun- 
tain lions, rattlesnakes, buffaloes' skulls and other local 
environments of a genuine cliff dwelling in Arizona. It 
is a clever idea and never fails to attract attention. At 
100th Street is the Firemen's Memorial. From 116th 
Street north is perhaps the finest view of the river. At 
122nd Street the drive widens out, enclosing a broad 
centrial triangle containing the chief point of interest 
along the whole length of the drive — Grant's Tomb. 

This is perhaps the best-known object in the coimtry 
297 



from its frequent reproduction in postal cards, engrav- 
ings, magazines and guide-books 1*^^^;^^%^^^,^^^,^'/ 
site, and rises to a height of one hundred and fifty feet 
The mausoleum is open from 10 A. M to 5 P M. It 
contains the bodies of General Grant and l^^s ^^i/«- 

North of the tomb is the gingko tree sent by Li Hung 
Chans-, the great Chinese statesman and admirer of 
Grant There is a tablet containing an account of this 
tribute adjoining the tree. v 4. k 

Bv a curious turn of fortune the great General s tomb 
is placed so that it seems to guard another little grave 
—that of a five-year-old child who died m 1797. It 
is the only grave except Grant's maintained and cared 
for by the city in one of its public parks. It appears 
that in years gone by the land was owned by George 
Pollock in 1790. He afterwards returned to Ireland 
and subsequently sold the property to Cornelia Ver- 
planck— all but the little grave in which lay all that he 
had cared for in America. He sent money to erect a 
small fence and a headstone in which he carved his affec- 
tion in the solitary line: 



TO AN AMIABLE CHILD. 



When condemnation proceedings were instituted to 
enable the city to acquire this land for a public park 
this curious indenture was encountered. Perhaps some 
sentimental feeling was aroused; at all events, the city 
accepted the land with the condition that the little grave 
of an amiable child must always be cared for, and there 
vou will see it just north of Grant's Tomb. 
' A building that is convenient to the tomb is the Clare- 
mont restaurant, owned by the city and is one to which 
strangers frequently repair at this point of their travels. 
It is a very old building, dating back almost to the 
Revolution. * It has had an interesting history. Viscount 




ur ,«w park, For. Tryon. The entrance gate from the south 




^'^L-cheTCX'SXtn If^^e. iS'Xor^^^^ ^^^ 



Courtena^y, who occupied it in 1807, viewed the trial 
trip of Fulton's Clermont from the veranda In 18K) 
It became the abode of the Emperor Napoleon's brother 
Joseph. Quite a few changes have been made from time 
to time m portions of the building, but structurally it 
remams the same. A very good dinner may be had here 
amid pleasant surroundings. 

The viaduct crossing Manhattanville carries the drive 
io Washington Heights. Houses now practically disap- 
pear, and the view of the river and of the Palisades 
becomes more beautiful. The busses, however, branch 
off at 13Dth Street, and the rest of the distance must be 
made bj^ private conveyance. You have, however, seen 
practically all that is to be seen of Riverside Drive 
although the rural beauty of the drive from this point 
is very delightful. ^ 

Just beyond the drive, and what will soon be a con- 
tinuation of it, is the beautiful new Tyron Park, recently 
presented to the city by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr' 
which IS described elsewhere. 



302 




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Battle of Harlem Heights.— Fro 



m an old 



The Roger Morris House 

WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS ON WASHINGTON HEIGHTS. ONE 
OF OUR MOST INTERESTING REVOLUTIONARY LANDMARKS. 

(COMMANDING a superb view of the Harlem val- 
itj, looking south from 160th Street and Jumel 
-t'lace, stands what is easily the most important build- 
ing, historically, in New York— the Roger Morris House, 
it is reached by the Broadway subway, 157th Street 
station; walk three blocks to the east. Also by th- Sixth 
Avenue elevated, getting off at 155th Street. 

The building was erected in 1765 by Lieut. Col. Ro^er 
Morris, of the British Forty-seventh Regiment and a 
member of the King's Council. Morris and Washing- 
ton were brothers in arms during the unfortunate attack 

304 




The Roger Morris House, Washington s HeadquarterB at Battle 
of Harlem. Perhaps the most interesting Colonial 
building now standing on Manhattan Island, 
160th Street and Jumel Place. Take 
West Side Subway or Fifth Ave- 
nue Buses. 




The Van Cortlandt Mansion in Van Cortlandt Park. Washington 

passed a night here. Contains an interesting and 

valuable collection of Colonial relics 



on Fort Du Qiiesne, in which the former was wounded. 
It is also stated that Mrs. Morris refused the hand of 
Washington, preferring the dashing young soldier who 
wore the King's uniform. After the Revolution the 
estate was confiscated and sold. Meanwhile it looms 
large in the pages of American history. 

It is the building most intimately connected with 
Washington in New York during hostilities. It was 
occupied by him as headquarters from September 16 to 
October 21, 1776 — a period of over five weeks. Here 
he formed plans for the defence of the heights and con- 
sidered measures for the blockade of the Hudson River. 
At the same time he issued the remarkable series of gen- 
eral orders now so eagerly read, and at the same time 
carrid on the famous correspondence with William Duer, 
of the secret Committee of Safety. He had under him 
nearly 8,000 volunteers, for the larger part wholly un- 
trained, undisciplined and about as motley a crew as 
ever gathered under any commander. 

Most of them enlisted for only about thirty days, and 
never troubled themselves to procure suitable uniforms. 
Notwithstanding their comm.on love of country and un- 
doubted patriotism, they were poor material out of which 
to oppose the regular trained troops of the British, and 
the result was a severe defeat for the Americans and 
the capture of Fort Washington. The prisoners were 
first assembled in the barns on the Morris place, and 
later transferred to hulks and prison ships in New York. 
During this exciting period the Morris House was the 
centre of operations, with Washington as first in com- 
mand. Upon its surrender to the British, it was occu- 
pied by Lieut. General Sir Henry Clinton, and became 
the headquarters of the invaders all through the sum- 
mer of 1777. In one of the rooms is shown an old 
table on which Andre wrote a letter to Arnold in the 
presence of his captors. 

306 



After Sir Henry's occupancy, the house was used dur- 
ing- the summer of 1778 and for the continuation of the 
war by the Hessian generals and their German staff. 
With the close of the Revolution the romance of the 
house for the moment ends, to be renewed at a later 
date by the wife of Stephen Jumel, a wealthy French- 
man who purchased the house in 1810. 

As in the case of all Royalists, the property of Roger 
Morris was confiscated and sold. In the days of its ill 
fortune it became an inn, known as Calumet Hall, and 
was the first stop for a change of horses on the trip to 
Albany, being then eleven miles from the city proper. 
In 1790 it flashed forth for an instant in all its old- 
time splendor — the old Commander-in-chief and his cab- 
inet, after a visit to Fort Washington, tarried here for 
dinner "provided by a Mr. Marriner," as the old chron- 
icler records. Among the distinguished guests accom- 
panying the President were Alexander Hamilton, New 
York's first and greatest statesman, and Washington's 
chief councillor in the new government, who was then 
only about thirty years old; Thomas Jefferson, not yet 
the world-famous personage in histery he has since be- 
come as the author of the Declaration of Independence; 
General Knox, little Nellie Custis, John Park Custis, 
John Adams, vice-president of the United States; Mrs. 
Adams and Mrs. Hamilton. Truly a notable gathering 
and well calculated to once again bring the old house 
to its old-time dignity. With the departure of these 
guests the fame of the old mansion seemed also to de- 
part, and for nearly twenty years it stood neglected 
and forlorn. Its purchase by the wealthy merchant al- 
ready mentioned served to restore its fallen fortunes 
for a period, as we find it for over fifty years occupy- 
ing a conspicuous position in the annals of old New 
York. 

307 



Jumel restored the mansion to the same condition in 
which it was in Washington's time, thus performing a 
very valuable public service. When the house finally- 
passed into the possession of the city for all time, it 
greatly simplified the work of making the restoration 
complete. 

During the Jumel occupation the old house continued 
to add to its historic reputation. In 1815, after Water- 
loo, Jumel sailed for France for the purpose of bringing 
back the great Napoleon here to end his days in exile. 
But the plan failed and Napoleon died in St. Helena. 
The Jumels brought back many presents from Napoleon 
and souvenirs of his reign. His campaigning trunk, a 
chariot clock from the Tuilleries, a table painted by 
Josephine and numerous pieces of furniture remained 
in the house as late as 1889. Stephen Jumel died in 
1 832 and was buried in old St. Patrick's Cathedral, then 
in Prince Street. 

The next year all New York was stirred by the news 
that Mme. Jumel had married the notorious Aaron Burr. 
Since the duel with Hamilton, Burr's fortunes had fal- 
len to a low ebb and the marriage was looked upon as a 
money-making scheme. The union did not last long and 
a separation and divorce soon followed. Mme. Jumel 
died in 1865, surviving by many years all who connected 
the Morris House with the Revolution, and was buried 
in old Trinity Cemetery, at One Hundred and Fifty-fifth 
Street and Broadway, but a slight distance from the old 
home in which for so m.any years she was so prominent 
a figure. 

A niece of Mme. Jumel then occupied the house for 
many years. Her husband studied law with Burr, and 
his friends included N. P. Willis and his sister Fanny 
Fern; James Porter, the poet; Mrs. Blennerhasset and 
many other literary friends. Fitz-Greene Halleck, on 
one of his many visits here, wrote his most famous poem, 

308 



"Marco Bozzaris," on a stone in the rear of the house 
which is still pointed out. 

By this time the people of New York became aroused 
to the historic importance of this house, and after many 
attempts the property was finally secured by the city 
through the Washington Heights Chapter of the Daugh- 
ters of the American Revolution, assisted by the Society 
of the Sons of the Revolution. It was then formally 
opened to the public. 

Each room now contains many interesting items and 
is designated by name, so that the contents are readily 
identified. 

The most important is called the Council Chamber, 
and is the large room at the back of the hall. In Wash- 
ington's time it was known as the Court Martial Room, 
and contains one of Washington's china plates decorated 
with the insignia of the Cincinnati. In this room Wash- 
ington received visits of the sachems of the Five Nations 
who offered their allegiance to the American cause. The 
Guard Room has many relics discovered in the neigh- 
borhood by Mr. Reginald Pelham Bolton, and Mr. Cal- 
ver, another enthusiast, who discovered a goodly num- 
ber of old camp sites, graves and other hidden remains 
of Revolutionary days, containing muskets, buttons, old 
cooking utensils, uniforms, coins, etc. 

Washington's bedroom is, of course, an object of par- 
ticular interest. There are few remaining houses where 
the father of his country slept for so many nights as in 
the Morris House. This room is now furnished with 
colonial furniture, of a character the same as used by 
Washington while here. The office is also interesting, as 
indeed is every room which the commander-in-chief is 
known to have occupied personally. 

The Lafayette Room is on the second floor and contains 
the richly carved bed and sofa actually used by Lafayette 
on. his visit to Charleston, S. C, and one of his gloves. 

309 



On the second floor in the hall is a copy of the flag used 
by Washington two and a half years before the making 
of Betsy Ross' design. It is the English flag, with red 
and white stripes substituted for the plain red field. 
Other important items in the house is the Washington 
table from Fraunces Tavern^ Aaron Burr's trunk, Gov- 
ernor Bradford's punch bowl, Governor Trumbull's chair 
and many other colonial relics appropriately disposed 
throughout the building. 

The run up to the old headquarters takes not over 
half an hour and is worth the time. In Trinity Ceme- 
tery (this must not be confused with Trinity Church 
Yard, downtown), not far from the Jumel Mansion, are 
also many interesting things to see. The late John Jacob 
Astor, who perished on the Titanic, is buried here, as is 
also Audubon, the great naturalist, and Clement Moore, 
who wrote that pretty little poem known by children the 
world over, 

" 'Twas the Night before Christmas" 

Every Christmas, the school children of New York 
gather around the grave and bedeck it with flowers. It 
is a beautiful tribute. 

A son of Charles Dickens w^ho died during a visit to 
this country is also buried here; so we have a reminder 
of tliat other great Christmas story, "Tiny Tim." 



310 




Cathedral of 



olin tilt' Divine. MorninRside Heitflit^ 



THE ACROPOLIS OF AMERICA 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE, 

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, HORACE MANN SCHOOL, 

BARNARD COLLEGE. 



npHIS section of the city has been recently described 
-■- as the Acropolis of America, and extends from 
Riverside Drive to Morningside Park. These are the 
grounds of Columbia University. The college grounds 
proper extend from One Hundred and Fourteenth Street 
to One Hundred and Twentieth Street, and from Broad- 
way to Amsterdam Avenue, but the land west of the col- 
lege gounds proper, from One Hundred and Sixteenth 
to One Hundred and Twentieth between Broadway and 

313 





St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University. 




Main reading-room. Low Library, Columbia University. 



II. 




itue iiy Coii^lantine Meunier, the Belgian sculptor, in front of the 
School of Mines, Columbia University. 



Claremont Avenue, and the blocks nortli from One Hun- 
dred and Twentieth Street to One Hundred and Twenty- 
first Street, also the land to the east from One Hundred 
and Sixteenth to One Hundred and Seventeenth Street 
between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Avenue, 
upon which stand Barnard College, Teachers College, 
the Horace Mann School and the president's house, are 
all included in the University buildings. On the frieze 
of the librarv of the university is inscribed the follow^ 



KING'S COLLEGE 

FOUNDED IN THE PROVINCE OF NEW YORK 

BY ROYAL CHARTER 

IN THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE II 

PERPETUATED AS COLUMBIA COLLEGE 

BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

WHEN THEY BECAME FREE AND INDEPENDENT 

MAINTAINED AND CHERISHED 

FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION 

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE PUBLIC GOOD 

AND THE GLORY OF ALMIGHTY GOD 



The Broadway subway cars will bring you right to the 
college entrance from any part of the city in a very short 
time. The Fifth Avenue motor busses also let you off 
at Riverside Drive and One Hundred and Sixteenth 
Street within a short block of the grounds. By this lat- 
ter route you have the added pleasure of the scenery 
along the river and the drive, a valued addition to the 
pleasures of the trip. Every facility is provided strang- 
ers for a walk through the grounds, and many of the 
buildings are open for inspection by the public. A model 
of all the university buildings twenty feet by thirty-five, 
including all those planned as well as erected — a gift 
of F. Augustus Schermerhorn, class of '68 — is in the 

318 




EntraiK 



to College of the City of New York. 
Terrace and 139th Street 



St. Nichola: 




The Hall of 



\ :k Uki . ~ t;. , 
Fordham 



ersity Heights, 



basement of Kent Hall, southwest corner One Hundred 
and Sixteenth Street and Amsterdam Avenue. 

At 138th Street extending to 140th Street is the col- 
lege of the City of New York, with free tuition and 
7,000 scholars. It is the largest school under municipal 
control in the world. The block southeast of the college 
grounds contains a huge amphitheatre known as the 
Lewisohn Stadium. Besides sports, this immense en- 
closure is used for pageants, community singing, etc. 
It is a most useful structure. Leaving the City College 
grounds we go north on the surface cars to Fort Wash- 
ington Park which contained the three forts, Washing- 
ton Tyron and George, and formed the Revolutionary 
defences of the Battle of Harlem Heights. Many old 
relics in the way of arms, buttons, cooking utensils are 
dug up in this neighborhood as the British ^forces stayed 
here nearly seven vears after the battle. A tablet on the 
Bennett property at 183rd Street and Washington Ave- 
nue, erected by James Gordon Bennett, marks the 
exact site of Fort Washington. At Broadway and 204th 
Street is the old Dyckman House dating from 1787 and 
recently restored. It is considered a typical old Dutch 
farm house. Continuing to the end of the Subway we 
alight at the entrance to Van Cortlandt Park, which 
begins at 242nd Street, just beyond the Harlem River m 

the Bronx. i • i, i 

There are two points of interest nearby which al- 
though not in Manhattan, may be included here for the 
benefit of those who have made the trip with us so f ar— 
the University of the City of New York, which is famous 
for its Hall of Fame, the gift of Helen Gould. Much 
discussion surrounds the selection of the names chosen 
for this distinction. A few blocks further, at 194th 
Street and Kingsbridge Road, is a very interesting old 
building— the home of Edgar Allan Poe. It is contained 
in a small section of public land called Poe Park. A 
short trolley ride on the surface car brings us to it. 

321 




Map Showing Upper Part of the Island 



Washington Heights Section. North from Washington's 
Headquarters, Roger Morris Mansion, 160-161st Street to the 
site of Fort George. At right facing Harlem River old Speed- 
way, popular in days of trotting horses. High Bridge across 
Harlem River and old Croton Reservoir. West or left hand 
side Fort Washington Park facing Hudson River. Fort Tyron 
and Fort Washington at north west corner 197th Street. 

We are now at the narrowest part of the island — about J/j 
a mile from East to West. 




OUR GREAT MUSEUMS 



THE METROPOLITAN, THE HISPANIC, THE NATURAL HISTORY, NEW 

YORK HISTORICAL, THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL, THE 

INDIAN, HEYE FOUNDATION, THE MAGNIFICENT GROUP 

OF BUILDINGS AT BROADWAY AND 155tH STREET 

NOW COMPLETED. OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

I N an educational sense our great public Museums 
are doing very important work. The Trustees of an 
institution like the Metropolitan Museum of Art have 
long ago outgrown the idea that it was simply a place in 
which to display rare paintings and priceless works of 
art. The idea now is to encourage the interest in these 
collections for their utilitj^ as well as their beauty and 
to seek to benefit industry and the artisan. The Metro- 
politan now lias a separate department in which the needs 
of the various workers in any line are carefully com- 
piled. Every effort is expended to acquaint firms in 
these lines with the specimens which are in the Metro- 
politan collection and to encourage visits and investi- 
gations. In this way the Museum is proving itself a 
practical helper in the work of the world today and is 
filling a career of usefulness never contemplated in its 
earlier plans. 

324 



The Metropolitan is so vast and so important that we 
could never do justice to it in the space here at my com- 
mand. No visitor would possibly think of coming to 
New York without visiting this magnificent institution 
with its acquisitions of the last few years outranking any 
similar institution in the world. It is open daily and 
on Sundays from 1 to 6 P. M. 

On Mondays and Fridays an admission fee for vis- 
itors of 25 cents is charged. The Museum publishes 
several catalogues of its own at moderate prices, 25 or 
50 cents. Wheel chairs to avoid Museum fatigue can 
also be had. Expert guides for parties at 25 cents per 
person with a minimum charge of $1.00 per hour, is the 
most satisfactory and time saving method in which to 
see the Museum. A visit is a liberal education in itself, 
and we strongly recommend our friends to put this ex- 
cursion on the list. A very pleasant route is to go on top 
of a Fifth Avenue Bus (fare 10 cents), and ride to the 
main entrance at 82nd Street. 

The American Museum of Natural History. 

Is located directly west of the Metropolitan on an 
extension of Park property and runs from Central Park 
West to Columbus Avenue. The grounds are ample and 
attractive. The building is massive and imposing. It is 
a huge affair ranking next to the Metropolitan in size, 
and is supported by a combination of private and public 
enterprise. The late Morris K. Jessup was a great ad- 
mirer of this institution. The Peary Expeditions to the 
North Pole were financed by him and the resulting speci- 
mens brought to the Institution. And Col. Roosevelt 
delivered his only public lecture on his trip through 
South America before the Society's members. 

The many items of interest in this building are, like 
its neighbor, quite impossible to describe in a book so 
limited for space as this. Perhaps the most popular 

326 



exhibits are those showing the Jiomes of native New York 
Indians. These are arranged in groups with lifelike 
figures^ the background representing the country in which 
they lived. Nothing can exceed the interest or the nat- 
uralness of these groups. The figures seem about to 
speak and the illusion is perfect. 

Some of the large reproductions of prehistoric ani- 
mals are fascinating. The Thunder lizard — as large as 
a Pullman Car, always has a crowd. It is about 70 feet 
long and a man just reaches his knee. These and other 
popular exhibits serve to keep this Museum well in tlie 
public eye. Classes from the public schools are present 
every day to supplement their studies by the practical 
demonstrations afforded by these exhibits. 

All sorts of birds, animals, whales, reptiles, are shown 
in practically endless variety. The struggle for exist- 
ence among the lower forms of animal and bird life are 
admirably shown in a series of skillfully arranged cab- 
inets in which the whole scene is enacted before the eye 
— the little field mouse is slain by the bat; the bat by 
the owl; the owl by the hawk; the hawk by the Eagle, 
etc., etc, 

A life size Indian War Canoe filled with warriors 
painted and ready for the fray, meets you almost at the 
entrance. It is an exact reproduction of ^n iVlaskan 
Tribe and is dramatic in its realism. If the figures were 
suddenly to break out into song you would not be at 
all surprised. It is certainly one of the thrills of a visit. 
This Museum cannot be seen in a few hours. It is so 
vast, so absorbingly interesting that the visitor whose 
time is limited should be content with one or two sec- 
tions. More than that, it is apt to create a confused im- 
pression of the whole. It will more than repay all the 
time spent in a visit. 

327 



The New York Historical Society. 

On the block bounded by 76th and 77th Streets, 
Central Park West, just around the corner from the 
Museum of Natural History, stands the building of one 
of our oldest institutions — the Historical Society, found- 
ed by John Pintard in 1804. When completed, the 
building will cover the entire front of the block and will 
be a notable addition to our semi-public buildings. The 
Society will shortly mature plans for the completion of 
the building by the erection of two imposing towers at 
the north and south ends. The main structure may also 
be heightened. When completed, the Building Commit- 
tee feels assured that the final result will be a notable 
achievement. While the Historical is open to free ad- 
mission to the public, it is nevertheless a private institu- 
tion, supported entirely by its members. 

In its rare prints of old New York, the society has un- 
doubtedly the most comprehensive collection of items 
relating to New York, possessed by any organization, 
and in its maps, manuscripts and newspapers it has un- 
doubtedly the finest pertaining to our city that exists. 
Its library is also of extraordinary value and contains 
nearly 450,000 volumes, including pamphlets. 

Under the direction of Robert H. Kelby, Librarian, 
and his able assistant, Alexander J. Wall, who is also 
well known as a popular lecturer and authority on local 
genealogy, the Historical co-operates in a hearty manner 
with writers and others, seeking assistance, and this 
Guide is in no small measure indebted to them for many 
courtesies. 

It was among the first to endorse the movement to re- 
move the old post office and erect the old Liberty Pole 
as a war memorial, described elsewhere in this journal. 
It is ever in the forefront where New York City his- 
torv is concerned and a visit to the building is well 

329 



worth while. The Eighth Avenue ears pass the door. 
Steps are now being taken to complete the building with 
artistic towers on the vacant land both north and south 
of the present structure. When completed, it will be a 
wonderful addition to an already famous institution of 
learning and culture. 

With the formal opening of the newest of our 
Museums, the Indian, Heye Foundation, the Quadrangle 
at Broadway and 155th Street is now completed. It 
would be hard to find a more beautiful or charming 
section in all New York. The Indian Museum has not 
yet been thrown open to the public, but the exercises 
will have been performed ere this book is published, 
and it is only for us to say that it adds another inter- 
esting and educational institution to the city of the 
highest importance. 

The Hispanic Society of America forms the prin- 
cipal building in this distinguished group which is lo- 
cated on an elevation overlooking the Hudson, just where 
Riverside Drive makes a graceful curve as if to spare 
"Minniesland," the old home of Audubon, the great 
naturalist. It is devoted to the advancement of Spanish 
literture, art and history. The entrance proper is on 
Broadway between One Hundred and Fifty-fifth and 
One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Streets, and the Subway 
station is at One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Street. 
The Hispanic Societ}^ is thus conveniently reached, and 
the stranger who decides to spend an hour or two within 
its walls will have visited one of the most remarkable 
institutions not only in New York, but in the world as 
well. In fact, the Hispanic Society probably is better 
known in foreign countries than it is at home, though 
in recent years its local fame has greatly increased, partly 
by reason of the splendid exhibition of Spanish art which 
it has given from time to time. Its late exhibition of 
Spanish tapestries is a case in point. Lovers of art 

330 



were thus enabled to use the best examples of the most 
famous Spanish creations in this ancient art, and our 
country thus received the benefit. The growing influ- 
ence of. all things Spanish and Portuguese in this city 
has given the society an added importance that is rapidly 
growing as its usefulness becomes more widely known. 

The collections of this society, though small_, are of 
exquisite quality. No attempt has been made to include 
the varying grades of certain illustrative originals, the 
idea being to limit the exhibits to the very best specimen 
obtainable in each class, and also one other that might be 
described as generally typical. In this manner the so- 
ciety has gathered examples of wood carving, silver work, 
ivory plaques and combs of Phoenician origin, Hispano- 
Moresque plaques, neolithic and Roman pottery, Buen- 
Retiro ware, azulejos or glazed tiles, Roman mosaics 
and ecclesiastical embroideries, etc. Most of them are 
of the greatest rarity. 

As the society delights to encourage special research 
in literature and strives to promote new and original in- 
vestigations so that the result may be literature by itself, 
it offers special facilities to those pursuing such studies, 
and its library is, without exception, the most important 
devoted to this particular field in America. Of ity 
original manuscripts, first editions, etc.. New York is 
justly proud. It includes a large collection of early 
books, including examples of Lambert Palmart, of 
Valencia, the first printer of Spain, with some specimens 
of contemporary printers of Germany and Italy for the 
jDurposes of comparison; first editions of important 
Spanish authors and a unique special collection, includ- 
ing nearly every known edition of "Don Quixote" — 
itself an item of absorbing interest and value; auto- 
graph letters of Charles the Fifth and the Duke of Wel- 
lington; manuscripts of George Borrow and Robert 
Southey; ancient maps and. rare old prints and beauti- 

331 



fully illumined mediaeval liturgical books. The society 
gives its cordial co-operation to sincere workers and upon 
application to the library the treasures of the library are 
freely placed at the disposal of readers. Reader's cards 
may be had from the Librarian. It is doubtful if a 
similar collection of Spanish memorabilia is extant in 
any other country of the world. 

Its famous paintings are undoubtedly entitled to the 
high praise bestowed upon them as they are of excep- 
tional importance. The Spanish Painter^ El Greco^ is 
best represented by The Holy Family. 

Valesquez, the greatest, is represented by the Portrait 
of a Little Girl, Portrait of a Cardinal, and a full-length, 
life-size portrait of the Duke of Olivares. 

Morales: Madonna and Child, and Goya: The Second 
of May, The Duchess of Alba and General Foraster. 
Also paintings by Moro, Zubaran, etc., and by Sala, For- 
tuny, Domingo and Rico. 

Of the great living Spanish painters, Sorolla and 
Zuloaga, there is Leonese Peasants; Portraits of 
Jose Echegaray and of Vincent e Blasco Ibanez, the 
Spanish novelist now so popular for his "Four Horsemen 
of the Apocalypse, by the former and family of a Gipsey 
Bullfighter, and portrait of the painter by himself of 
the latter. 

Sorolla, by the way, was introduced to the art public 
of the new world by the Hispanic, whose notable exhi- 
bition of his work is still pleasantly remembered in New 
York. 

The Hispanic is constantly growing in influence. 

A bronze bust of Collis P. Huntington, father of the 
founder and to whom the building is a memorial, is of 
special interest. It is on the right as you enter. The 
building is open from 10 to 5 every day of the week, 
but the library is closed on Sundays and Mondays. 

332 



There are_, of course^ dozens of other institutions, all 
doing great work for the city, like the Genealogical and 
Biographical Society, which devotes itself to family his- 
tory. The Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, at 16 
West 44th Street, one of the oldest bodies (1785); the 
Society Library, our first public library, on University 
Place, and dozens of others. We can only enumerate 
those likely to have some interest for the visitor. 

Our Wonderful Public Schools. 

There are over five hundred and fifty public schools 
in the city, the attendance of which aggregates some 
nine hundred thousand pupils. These are located all 
over the city. New buildings are constantly in course 
of construction, but the complaint of inadequate service 
is constant. Each year sees a long article in the papers 
about "part time" scholars, and various remedies are pro- 
posed. The reason for this state of affairs is not always 
lack of school room. Populations in the City have a way 
of shifting from year to year, that puzzles the authori- 
ties to know just what to do. One section ol the city 
will have more than enough school room, while another 
not far distant will have far from enough. School houses 
are expensive, and when business suddenly drives out 
all the families in its particular neighborhood, the mov- 
ing of the school is not always practical. In addition 
to this oddity of metropolitan life there is the constant 
influx of new families from all over the country. 

More use of the buildings is now made than formerly. 
Night sessions in many of them for advanced pupils is 
more or less general, and hundreds of lectures with lan- 
tern slides and moving pictures, are held every evening 
throughout the winter season. No admission to these 
lectures is charged, and almost every known subject is 
discussed and illustrated at some time or other by a 
recognized authority. The community idea is also gain- 

333 



ing ground, and many meetings of purely local interest 
are held in these buildings. Community singing is also 
quite an important feature. Central Park has been 
the scene of many such gatherings on summer evenings, 
and on Christmas eve quite a celebration is had in 
Madison Square, on which occasion a Community Christ- 
mas Tree wonderfully decorated with many electric lights, 
is an added attraction. 

"The Black Belt." 

In the neighborhood of Lenox Avenue, beyond the 
130th Streets and extending a short distance East and 
West, is a section densely populated by negroes. Dur- 
ing the War quite an exodus set in from the South, and 
we now have a colored population of nearly a hundred 
thousand. 

Long stretches of individual bouses and apartments 
formerly occupied by whites, have been abandoned to 
the newcomers. They have a theatre of their own in 
which legitimate plays are given with a caste entirely 
composed of negroes, in the daily newspapers. 

Strange to relate, our colored citizens very early showed 
puB Supu^p Sop ^ifspj:jsmra :^j[oddns o:^ uopBm[ouiSTp v 
vaudeville. So the proprietors of the Lafayette Theatre, 
the negro playhouse at the corner of 137th Street and 
Seventh Avenue, formed their troupe into a regular 
stock company and they are now known as the Lafayette 
Players. This versatile troupe of colored actors will 
ultimately tour the leading cities of the North and 
South, playing "Faust," "Madame X." "Tribly," "The 
Fortune Hunter," "Resurrection," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 
Hyde," "The Rosary," "Seven Keys to Baldpate," and 
a hundred different dramas, ranging from the classic 
to Broadway farce. 



335 



I 




~ mmm 









HISPANIC SOG 

American Geographical Society, the American Indian Museum, Hej^ 

on Broadway, 



.«Sii^ ^^0Sr 




,^f 






.'» ^ ■ ^"^ 



OF AMERICA 

dation and the Numismatic Society. A Notable Group of Buildings 
156th Streets 



RANDOM NOTES 

Nearly opposite old St. John's Methodist Church *on 
John Street was the site of the second theatre in New 
York. It was known in Colonial days as the Royal. 
The father of Joseph Jefferson played here and during 
the British occupation it was much frequented by His 
Majesty's officers. Major Andre, who was an amateur 
playwright of no mean ability, had several of his plays 
produced here during the Revolution. 

But what is perhaps its most interesting event was 
the night when Washington, then President, attended. 
That well-known song, "Hail Columbia," was composed 
in honor of the event, and played for the first time by 
the orchestra under the direction of the composer, Fyles. 
Few persons are aware of the birth of this popular 
song, which you see has quite a distinguished origin. 

* * -X- * 4«- 

And, speaking of songs, reminds us of another one 
that has enjoyed lasting popularity, "The American 
Flag," written by Joseph Rodman Drake, another New 
Yorker. The rollicking chorus of this ballad, "Three 
Cheers for the Red, White and Blue," might well be 
called the father of all the Cohan-Berlin syncopated 
ragtime-jazz music, now so universally popular. 

Drake was a contemporary and friend of Irving's. 
He was a most promising young poet, but died at the 
early age of twentv-five. His 'Culprit Fay" is one of 
the most fanciful poems in literature. To Fitz Greene 
Halleck, his devoted friend, his loss was a sorrow which 
he never forgot. His lament beginning: 

Green be the turf above thee, 
Friend of my better days, 
None knew thee but to love thee 
Nor named thee bnt to praise. 

still remains one of the most touching tributes in English 
poetry. 

338 




NEARBY ATTRACTIONS 



CONEY ISLAND, ROCKAWAY BEACH, THE INTERSTATE PALISADE 

PARK, BEAR MOUNTAIN, HIGHLANDS OF THE HUDSON, 

WEST POINT. 

TT is quite impossible in a book of ordinary size to 
speak at length of all the features of New York that 
are more or less of interest to the stranger. Besides the 
city^ there are its environs like Coney Island, for instance, 
that are practically part of the metropolis. A quarter of 
a million people sometimes spend the day at Coney 
Island, which is one of the really great sights of the 
world. 

It is not more than forty minutes from almost any 
station in the subway, and ranks among one of the most 
popular resorts near a great city in the world. It fronts 
directly on the ocean. The bathing is a great attraction, 
and there is generally a cool breeze blowing. A portion 
of the beach is now a public park. From the East side, 
take the subway at 60th Street on the Lexington Avenue 
line. On the West Side, subway, take the 42nd Street 
station. You can use any of the stations in between to 
reach those points, as best suits your convenience. 

340 



A very delightful route to Coney Island is by boat. 
Starting from 129th Street and sailing down the North 
River, touching at Pier 1, near the Battery, we get a 
splendid view of the docks and shipping of New York 
with the tall buildings in the background, and the ever- 
changing scenes of river traffic on our right. As we pilot 
our way into the bay the historic Governor's Island 
appears on our left and the famous Statue of Liberty 
on our right. Passing these landmarks we sail along the 
beautiful shore of Bay Ridge — another Brooklyn sub- 
urb — with its fine residences and its splendidly built 
Shore Road stretching all the way down to Fort Hamil- 
ton and the Narrows. At this point we emerge into the 
ocean and get a taste of the ocean breezes at first hand, 
and if our voyager is at all languid from the effects of 
the heat, the oxygen of the Atlantic transforms him, in 
an incredibly short time, into a most lively and vivalcious 
pleasure seeker. 

The Rockaways and Jamaica Bay. 

Next to Coney Island, Rockaway Beach is the most 
attractive of all the nearby resorts and in some respects 
it is even more delightful than its famous neighbor. 
The trip by water is a most pleasant one. To those who 
go to Rockaway by train the fishing stations on Jamaica 
Bay, just before reaching your destination, present a 
curious and rather perplexing puzzle of winding water 
ways, zig-zagging and crossing each other in an inter- 
minable maze. But the fishermen who frequent these 
perplexing waters know all the outs and ins, the deeps 
and shallows, the currents and eddies of this most strange 
fishing ground. The sensation of crossing this bay is 
peculiar. You wonder whether you are on land or water. 
Besides Rockaway Beach itself, where the crowds go, 
there is the beautiful Rockaway Park, a few miles far- 
ther west on the beach — a quiet and select place. And 

341 



in the other direction there is the fashionable Far Rock- 
away with its incomparable stretch of sandy beach, and 
Arverne with its many fine residences. 

For any one who likes a trolley ride through the 
country, a very pleasant way to return from Far Rock- 
away is to take the trolley car which starts from near 
the station and crosses the island to Jamaica. There the 
street car or elevated may be taken to New York. The 
trip this way consumes more than two hours, but is most 
enjoyable and gives the traveller a view of a very fine 
suburban part of Brooklyn and the village of Jamaica, 
itself a residential section of Brooklyn, which is growing 
very fast and is building up with handsome residences. 
From here car lines run to Flushing, Corona, College 
Point, and thence back to New York by Queensborough 
Bridge. 

Sandy Hook and Back. 

For a purely ocean trip nothing can surpass the sail 
to Sandy Hook and back. It matters not how the tem- 
perature may be on land, old ocean never fails to roll 
and toss and blow to your heart's content. The swift 
steamers that ply between the city from the foot of 
Liberty Street to the Atlantic Highlands usually carry a 
full passenger list. Many of them do not leave the boat 
at Sandy Hook, but come right back. All they want is 
the ocean breezes and the invigorating effect of real deep 
sea sailing. 

It is a pleasant trip, costs $2.50 return fare, and takes 
about one hour each way. 

The trains connect with the railroad running to all 
the famous Jersey Shore resorts you have heard so much 
about — Long Branch, Ocean Grove, Asbury Park, Sea 
Girt, Elberon, Spring Lake, Bradley Beach, etc. 

There are also some delightful short trips to Long 
Island by motor car or railroad. Oyster Bay, where 

342 



Roosevelt is buried, is about an hour out. Garden City, 
with its famous hotel, cathedral and great publishing 
house of Doubleday, Page & Co., and Camp Mills. Other 
resorts further out include Wheatley Hills, Old West- 
bury, Piping Rock, South, East and AVest Hampton — 
all containing the Summer homes of wealthy New York- 
ers. A ride on the Jericho Turnpike or on the famous 
Motor Parkway, that extends fifty miles into Long 
Island to Lake Ronkonkoma, is well worth taking. Con- 
sult the Long Island Railroad time table for further 
particulars. 

North of the city in Westchester County are two or 
three particularly interesting places. Long Vue, on the 
highest point of land near the city on the Hudson River, 
affords magnificent views of the river and in all direc- 
tions. It is about 40 minutes out by motor or by rail. 
The nearest station is Hastings-on-Hudson on the New 
York Central. Briar Cliff Lodge, about forty miles out, 
is another delightful resort. Gedney Farms, at White 
Plains, and the Hotel Gramatan, at La-wrence Park, 
Bronxville, are also well worth a visit. 

Yonkers, Irvington, (Washington Irving's home,) 
Tarrytown and its old Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, nearly 
250 years old, and containing the only Dutch church 
standing (built in 1688) in this part of the country. 
Here are the graves of Andrew Carnegie, Washington 
Irving and the captors of Major Andre. John R. Rocke- 
feller and his brother, William, live just north of Tarry- 
town, besides that of many other well known people. 
These are all on the Central lines within an hour of the 
city. 

On the eastern side of the county are the pretty little 
villages of New Rochelle, Larchmont, Greenwich and 
Cos Cob. They face the waters of Long Island Sound 
and provide homes for some of the vast army of New 
York commuters. They are on the New Haven Railroad. 

343 



Trolley cars connect all these little places in some 
way or another^ and on an open car in Summer the trip 
is very pleasant and the country very beautiful. 

It is doubtful if any other large city has quite so 
many attractive environs as Nevr York. As a Summer 
resort itself, it is among the most popular in the country. 
With a few trifling exceptions the weather, even in July 
and August, is not at all uncomfortable and almost every 
night a cool breeze springs up and the evenings are 
enj oyable. 

Seashore, river and mountain are all readily reached 
within a few hours from the city. All the places we 
have mentioned can be visited and return with ample time 
for sight seeing, within a day. Even Atlantic City is 
reached within two and a half hours and special trains 
in the Summer on Sundays make the trip there and back 
within the day, allowing nearly six hours at the beach. 
And Block Island, twenty miles out in the ocean from 
the end of Long Island, is another Sunday one-day trip. 
In short, there are many numerous delightful outings, 
including a day's deep sea fishing out in the broad At- 
lantic, that is easily and cheaply made from the city. 
Golf, tennis and baseball, by world famous clubs and 
players, are of almost daily occurrence and no one need 
lack for amusement of any kind in or around New York. 
The famous Forest Hills tennis courts are fifteen minutes 
out on the Long Island Railroad, and the Polo Grounds 
are at 155th Street and Eighth Avenue. Dozens of golf 
clubs are near the city. 

Outsiders in New York 

The United States Census Bureau gives the following list of 
outsiders who are living in New York City: 

Alabama 2,165 Nebraska 934 

Arizona 393 Nevada 239 

Arkansas 577 New Hampshire 2,857 

California 4,827 New Jersey 69,898 

Colorado 1,105 New Mexico 360 

344 



Connecticut 25,235 

Delaware 2,003 

District of Columbia 4,781 

Florida 2,399 

Georgia 6,798 

Idaho 341 

Illinois 12,938 

Indiana 4,356 

Iowa '. ... 2,712 

Kansas 1,266 

Kentucky 4,520 

Louisiana 3,331 

Maine 6,693 

Maryland 12,562 

Massachusetts 34,977 

Michigan 5,238 

Minnesota 2,138 

Mississippi 1,02S 

Missouri 5,443 



Montana 458 

North Carolina 10,736 

North Dakota 152 

Ohio 16,549 

Oklahoma 194 

Oregon 360 

Pennsylvania 54,904 

Rhode Island 5,655 

South Carolina 8,229 

South Dakota 199 

Tennessee 2,425 

Texas 2,387 

Utah 320 

Vermont 5,205 

Virginia •. . . 28,862 

Washington 753 

West Virginia 1,279 

Wisconsin 3,190 

Wyoming 341 



NEW YORK'S GREAT WAR MEMORIAL 



As the chief city in the Union, New York will un- 
doubtedly erect a magnificent monument to the Heroes 
of the Great War. Mr. Rodman Wanamaker is chair- 
man of the Mayor's Committee and the following prom- 
inent citizens are the members : 



Adams, Dr. P. H. 

Adams, Herbert 

Adamson, Robert 

Agar, John C. 

Albee, Col. E. F. 

Alexander, Major Gen. Robert 

Anderson, EUery O. 

Appel, John W., Jr. 

Appleton, Gen. Daniel 

Auchincloss, Gordon 

Babcock, W^oodward 

Caker, George F. 

Baker, George F., .Tr. 

Baker, Stephen 

Baldwin, Le Roy W. 

Bannard, Otto T. 

Bartlett, Paul W. 

Barclay, J. Searle 

Battle, George G. 

Baylies, Edmund L. 

Beal, Gifford 

Beard, Anson 

Berolzh-eimer. Philip 

Berwind, E. J. 

Berry, Lt. Col. C. W. 

Bigelow, Ernest A. 

Blair, John Inslee 



Blashfleld, Edwin H. 

Boomer, L. M. 

Borden, Col. H. S. 

Bowman, John McE. 

Boyle, Edward F. 

Brady, Nicholas F. 

Brannon, Dr. J. W^. 

Breed, William C. 

Brown, Charles S. 

Brown, Dr. Ellsworth 

Bruckner, Henry 

Brunner, Arnold W. 

Bullard, Major Gen. Robert L. 

Burch, Rt. Rev. C. H. 

Burr, William P. 

Burrell, Rev. D. J. 

Calder, William M. 

Cameron, W. Scott 

Campbell, H. D. 

Candler, Duncan 

Carey, Frederic F. 

Chalfin, Paul 

Chaplin, Dr. H. D. 

Choate, Joseph H. 

Clarke, E. A. S. 

Clarke, T. B., Jr. 

Clews, Henry 



345 



Cockran, W. Bourke 
Coler, Bird S. 
Compton, George B. 
Conboy, Martin 
Connolly, Maurice E. 
Cooke, G. E. 
Cooke, Dr. R. A. 
Cooke, Robert Grier 
Cortelyou, George B. 
Coudert, Frederic B. 
Cowdin, John E. 
Craig, Charles L. 
Cravath, Paul D. 
Crowninshield, Frank 
Cruger, Bertram de'N. 
Cruger, Major F. H. 
Curran, Henry H. 
Cutting, R. Fulton 
Davie, Col. Preston 
Day, William A. 
Day, Joseph P. 
Davies, Julien T. 
Davison, Henry P. 
Dodge, Cleveland H. 
Delafield, Richard 
De Rahm, Frederic F. 
Dillingham, C. B. 
Donovan, Col. W. J. 
Drayton, J. Coleman 
Dreicer, Michael 
Drennan, Thomas 
Du Pont, T. Coleman 
Dunn, Robert R. 
Duffleld, Rev. Howard 
Dwyer, John F. 
Dyer, Gen. G. R. 
Edgar, N. Le Roy 
Edwards, William H. 
Elkus, Abram L. 
Emerson, Guy 
Enright, Richard E. 
Fairchild, Samuel W. 
Faxon, William B. 
Finley, John H. 
Fish, Major H., Jr. 
Fiske, Haley 
Fiske, Rear Admiral 

Bradley A. 
Foley, James A. 
Posdick, Raymond B. 
Foster, F. de P. 
Franklin, P. A. S. 
Freelander, J. H. 
French, Amos Tuck 
French. Daniel C. 
Frew, '\^ . E. 
Friedsam, Michael 
Frissell, A. S. 
Frost, John S. 



Gallatin, Albert E. 
Gibson, Charles Dana 
Gleaves, Vice Admiral Albert 
Glennon, Rear Admiral 

James H. 
Goff, John W., Jr. 
Golden, John L. 
Goodrich, Lieut. Col. David M. 
Gordon, Gordon 
Grant, Rollin P. 
Griscom, Lloyd C. 
Guerrin, Jules 
Guggenheim, S. R. 
Guggenheim, E. A. 
Gunnison, Herbert F. 
Harding, J. Horace 
Harmon, John N. 
Harriman, Joseph W. 
Harriman, Oliver 
Harries, John A. 
Harris, Tracey Hyde 
Tlarvey, George 
Hastings, Thomas 
Iiawkes, McDougall 
Hayes, Rt. Rev. P. J. 
Hedges, Job E. 
Hemphill, A. J. 
Higgins, C. M. 
Hogan, Edward J. 
Holt, Dr. L. Emmett 
i^Toppin, William W. 
House, Col. E. M. 
Houston, Herbert S. 
Hoyt, Allen G. 
Hoyt, Capt. Lydig 
Hulbert, Murray 
Huntington, A. M. 
Huntsman, R. F. R. 
Iselin, Adrian 
James, Arthur C. 
Jenks, Jeremiah W. 
Johnson, Alfred J. 
Johnson, Bradish G. 
Johnson, Robert U. 
Juilliard, Frederic A. 
Kahn, Otto H. 
Kane, Grenville 
Kaufman, Louis G. 
Keep, Charles H. 
Kelsey, Clarence H. 
Kernochan, Frederic 
Kingsley, Darwin P. 
Knott, David H. 
Kountze, Lieut. Col. W. de 

Lancey 
Krech, Alvin W. 
Kuntz, George F. 
Lahey, William J. 
Lamont, Thomas W. 



346 



/ 



Lamb, Charles R. 
Larkin, William P. 
Lavelle, Rt. Rev. M. J. 
Leach, John A. 
Lee, Frederic G. 
Ledyard, Lewis Cass 
Leslie, Warren 
Lewis, William E. 
Lewisohn, Adolph 
Lorillard, Pierre, Jr. 
Lowrie, Charles N. 
Lindeberg, H. T. 
Lynn, Preston P. 
McAdoo, W. Gibbs 
McAdoo, William 
INIcAlpin, Dr. D. H. 
McAteer, Howard 
McCormack, John 
McCarthy, Thomas D. 
McClellan, George B. 
McCook, Philip J. 
MacDonald, Henry 
McGarrah, Gates W. 
MacMonnies, F. W. 
Mackay, Clarence H. 
Manning-, Rev. W. T. 
Mansfield, Howard 
Marling, A. E. 
Marston, E. S. 
Milburn, John G. 
Miller, Dr. Frank E. 
Mills, Major Ogden L. 
Moran, Robert L. 
Morgan, J. P. 
Morgan, William F, 
Morris, B. W. 
Moore, John B. 
Mott, John R. 
Murphy, Patrick E. 
Munsey, Frank 
Murchison, Kenneth 
Nast, Conde 
Newberger, J. E. 
Newton, Byron R. 
Nicoll, Delancey 
Xixon, Lewis 
O'Brien, Morgan J. 
Ochs, Adolph S. 
Ohl, J. K. 
Olcott, E. E. 

O'Ryan, Major Gen. J. F. 
Osborn, Henry F. 
Parker, Alton B. 
Parson. Col. W. B. 
Patchin, Robert H. 
Patten, Thomas G. 
Peabody, Charles A. 
Pell, Herbert C. 
Perkins, George W. 



Pitcher, Lewis F. 

Pendleton, Justice F. K. 

Phipps, John S. 

Polk, Frank 1 .. 

Pomroy, Frank Ij. 

Pope, John Kusis^ii 

Porter, W. H. 

Porter, A. D. 

Porter, Gen. Horace 

Post, Augustus, 

Pratt, Carroll H. 

Presbrey, Frank 

Prosser, Seward 

Pulitzer, Ralph 

Pyne, Percy R. 

Reid, Ogden 

Reid, Daniel C. 

Deiland, Rev. Karl 

Rhines, Isaac O. 

Riegelmann, Edward 

Richie, John M. 

Ricliardtj, Eben 

Robbins, Arden M. 

Robinson, Capt. M. D. 

Robinson, Edward 

Rogers, Jason 

Robbins, Very Rev. H. C. 

Robinson, William S. 

Rockefeller, P. A. 

Root, Elihu 

Roosevelt, F. D. 

Ryan, Allan A. 

Rvan, Daniel L. 

Sabin, Charles H. 

Satterlee, Herbert L. 

Sayer, Francis B. 

Schiff, Mortimer L. 

Schwab, Charles M. 

Scribner. Charles 

Seligman, Henry 

Shanks, Major Gen. David C. 

Shaw, John M. 

Sheldon. Edward W. 

Shepard, Finley J. 

Sherry, Louis 

Shulhof, Otto B. 

Sinclair, Harry F. 

Sinnott, James 

Sinnott, John F. 

Smith, Alfred E. 

Smith, R. A. C. 

Snyder. Valentine P. 

Somers, Arthur S. 

Spedden, F. O. 

Stanchfield, John B. 

Stern, Louis 

Stetson, Francis L. 

Stettinius. E. R. 

Stewart, W. R. 

Stillman, James A. 



347 



Stimson, Col. H. L. 
Stires, Rev. E. M. 
Strong, Benjamin 
Sutphen, Henry R. 
Swann, Edward 
Swartwout, Egerton 
Talbot, Richmond 
Talley, Alfred" J. 
Tams, J. Frederic 
Thayer, E. V. R. 
Thomas, Augustus 
Thompson, Col. J. De Mont 
Timlow, William F. 
Trowbridge, S. B. P. 
Tuckerman, Paul 
Twitchell, H. K. 
Vail, Theodore N. 
Van Dyke, Dr. H. 
Vanderbilt, W. K., Jr. 



Vanderlip, Frank A. 
Vogel, Martin 
Wagstaff, David 
Walker, A. S. 
Wallace, J. N. 
Walsh, William E. 
Warburg, Felix M. 
Waterman, L. E. 
White, Gaylord S. 
White, James G. 
Whitehouse, J. N. de R. 
Wickersham, G. W. 
Wiggin, Albert H. 
Williams, Lt. Col. R. H., Jr. 
Williams, Talcott 
Wilmerding, Lucius 
Wilson, George T. 
Wingate, Gen. G. W. 
Winthrop, H. R. 



A committee of the Victory Hall Memorial Associa- 
tion, consisting of George Gordon Battle, James E. 
Cushman and Mrs. C. C. Rumsey, daughter of Mrs. 
E. H. Harriman, called on President F. H. LaGuardia 
of the Board of Aldermen, to discuss the erection of 
the hall on the site of the old Grand Union Hotel, Park 
Avenue, Forty-first to Forty-second Street. 

This is a very ambitious project, the building alone 
costing over ten million dollars. It has not yet been 
fully decided upon, but is one of the many suggestions 
made for the Monument. 



348 



' ' ' ii ^^^HHIHHBHf 





WHERE PROMINENT PERSONS LIVE 



\ VERY prominent resident of the city passed away 
''^^'-just recently. Mr. Andrew Carnegie. His late 
home occupies the block between 90th and 91st Streets. 
The best known residents of the city are perhaps J. P. 
Morgan and J. D. Rockefeller. The latter does not live 
exactly on the Avenue, but just a step west on 54th 
Street, and the former on Madison Av-enue, corner 36th 
Street. Many of the persons mentioned in the following 
list live on Fifth Avenue above 59th Street, East of 
Central Park. This mile or so contains the homes of 
New York leaders in society, finance and commerce. A 
ride on top of the Fifth Avenue 'bus going to 110th 
Street will take you past the section and by reference to 
this list you can easily keep informed as you ride by. A 
leisurely walk is of course likely to prove more satis- 
factory, as the 'bus doesn't give you time for more than 
a fleeting glimpse. 

Mr. J. P. Morgan, 231 Madison Avenue. 

Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 10 West 54th Street. 

Mr. Robert W. Chambers, 43 East 83rd Street. 

Mr. Vincent Astor, 840 Fifth Avenue. 

349 



Mrs. Burke Roche, 23 West 53rd Street. 
Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1 West 57th Street. 
Mr. Theodore N. Vail, 150 West 59th Street (Navarro). 
Mr. Arthur Curtiss James, 39 East 69th Street. 
Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, 90 Park Avenue. 
Mr. Henry E. Huntington, 2 East 57th Street. 
Mr. Archer M. Huntington, 15 West 81st Street. 
Mr. George Grey Barnard, 454 Fort Washington Avenue. 
Miss Elsie Janis, 55 W^est 71st Street. 
Mr. Julian Street, 151 West S6th Street. 
Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 47 East 65th Street. 
Mr, George F. Baker, 258 Madison Avenue, 
Mr. George F. Baker, Jr., 260 Madison Avenue. 
Mr. Thos. F. Ryan, 858 Fifth Avenue. 
Mr, Francis L.ynde Stetson, 4 East 74th Street. 
Mr. John G. Milburn, 16 West 10th Street. 
Col. M. Friedsam, 400 Park Avenue. 
Mr. I. N. Phelps Stokes, 118 East 22nd Street. 
Mr. Samuel Sloan, 45 East 53rd Street. 
Mr. Nicholas F. Brady, 989 Fifth Avenue. 
Mr. George B. Cortelyou, Riverdale-on-Hudson. 
Hon. Lindley Garrison, 399 Park Avenue. 
Mr. Frank A. Munsey, "Sherrys". 
Mr. Ogden Reid Mills, 2 East 69th Street. 
Dr. Samuel W. Lambert, 130 East 35th Street. 
Pres. Nicholas Murray Butler, 60 Morningside Drive. 
Mr. John Drew, 96 Central Park West. 
Mr. David Belasco, 115 West 44th Street. 
Mr. George M. Cohan 

Mr. Arthur P. Williams, 117 West 58th Street. 
Mr. Otto Kahn, 1100 Fifth Avenue. 
Hon. George M. Wickersham, 30 East 70th Street. 
Miss Elsie Ferguson, 294 Riverside Drive. 
Miss Jane Cowl, 186 West 86th Street. 
Mr. H. O. Havemeyer, 1 East 66th Street. 
Mr. Reginald de Koven, 1025 Park Avenue. 
Mr. Victor Herbert, 321 West 108th Street. 
Mr. Irving Berhn, 30 West 70th Street. 
Mr. Irvin Cobb, 116 West 120th Street. 
Mrs. Richard Harding Davis, 19 Sheridan Square. 
Mr. Chas. Dana Gibson, 127 East 73rd Street. 
Mr. H. P. Davison, 690 Park Avenue. 
Mr. Frank Vanderlip, Plaza Hotel. 
Mr. Samuel Untermeyer, 2 East 54th Street. 
Mr. Charles M. Schwab, Riverside Drive and 73rd Street. 
Mr. Theo. Roosevelt, 201 West 74th Street. 
Capt. Archie Roosevelt, 201 West 78th Street. 
Col. E. M. House, 115 East 53rd Street. 

Mrs. Sayre (Pres. Wilson's daughter), 173 West 81st Street. 
Mr. Jacob Schiff (Mortimer L. at 2 East 80th Street). 
Mr. August Belmont, 820 Fifth Avenue. 
Mr. Brander Matthews, 337 West 87th Street. 
Sig. Enrico Caruso, Knickerbocker Hotel. 
Miss Louise Homer, 38 West 64th Street. 
Miss Geraldine Farrar, 290 Riverside Drive. 
Miss Mar>' Garden, 196 Central Park West. 
Miss Mary Pickford, 240 West 68th Street. 
Mr. Douglas Fairbanks, 119 Central Park West. 

350 



Mr. James B. Duke, 1 East 7Sth Street. 

Mr, E. H. Sothern, Hotel Lorraine. 

Miss Julia Marlowe, Hotel Lorraine. 

Mrs. H. P. Wnitney, 871 Pifch Avenue. 

Miss Eva Tanguay, 160 West 96th Street. 

Miss Blanche Bates, 630 West 121st Street. 

Mr. Fredk. McMonnies, 110 West 56th Street. 

Mr. Geo. Innes, Jr., 525 Park Avenue. 

Miss Maud Adams, 960 Park Avenue. 

Mr. W. R. Hearst, 137 Riverside Drive. 

Ml'. Rube Goldberg, 420 W^est End Avenue. 

Mr. Payne Whitney, 972 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. Chas. F. Murphy, Fifth Avenue and 44th Street. 

Mr. Delancey Nicoll, 23 East 39th Street. 

Mr. W. B. Osgood Field, 645 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. W. T. Hornaday, Zoological Park. 

Mr. Rodman Wanamaker, 37 West 56th Street. 

Mr. Howard Chandler Christy, 15 West 67th Street. 

Mr. Grantland Rice, 450 Riverside Drive, 

Mr. John McGraw, 228 West 112th Street, 

Col. Wm. Hayward, 120 Broadway, 

Gov. Al. Smith, 25 Oliver Street. 

Mr. Ralph Pulitzer, 17 East 73rd Street. 

Miss Frances Starr, 220 West 45th Street. 

Miss Anne Morgan, 219 Madison Avenue. 

Mr. De Wolf Hopper, 27 West 49th Street, 

Mr. Fred Stone, 27 Madison Avenue. 

Mr. Job Hedges, Union League Club, 1 West 39th Street. 

Mrs. John Perroy Mitchel 

Mr. Nathan Straus, 645 West End Avenue. 

Mr, Adolph Lewisohn, 881 Fifth Avenue, 

Mr, Harrison Fisher, 15 West 67th Street. 

Miss Ida Tarbell, 19 Sheridan Square. 

Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton, 6 East 58th Street. 

Archbishop Hayes, Madison Avenue and 50th Street. 

Miss Emma Goldman, 19 Avenue B, 

Ex-Gov. Charles E. Hughes, 32 East 64th Street, 

Hon. Elihu Root, 908 Fifth Avenue. 

Hon. Chauncey M. Depew. 27 AVest 54th Street. 

Judge Alton B. Parker, Metropolitan Club, 

]\Tr. D. G. Reid, 907 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. Frederic K. Coudert, 124 East 56th Street. 

Mr, Clarence Mackay, 834 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. Joseph Hergesheimer, 160 Central Park West. 

Mr. Richard Le Galliene, 123 Riverside Drive. 

Dr. Lyman Abbott, 431 Fourth Avenue. 

Mr. David Warfield, 196 West S6th Street. 

Mr. Lionel Barrymore, 117 West 74th Street. 

Mr. Chas. Scribner, 9 East 66th Street. 

Mr. Geo. H. Putnam, 333 West 86th Street. 

Mr. James W. Gerard, 9 East 91st Street, 

Mr. Rex Beach, 17 West 66th Street. 

Bishop Burch, Amsterdam Avenue and 110th Street. 

Mr. Rupert Hughes, 37 Morningside Avenue. 

Mrs. Willard Straight, 1130 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. W. Bourke Cockran, 107 East 73rd Street. 

Mr. Herbert L. Pratt, 907 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. James K. Hackett, 58 West 71st Street. 

351 



Mr. T. C. Dupont, 11 East 78th Street. 

Mrs. J. G. Stokes (Rose Pastor), 88 Grove Street. 

Bishop Charles H. Burch, Amsterdam Avenue and 110th Street 

Mr. William Dean Howells, 50 East 58th Street. 

Mr. Hamlin Garland, 71 East 92nd Street. 

Mr. James Montgomery Flagg, 33 West 67th Street. 

Mr. Frank J. Sprague, 71st Street and West End Avenue. 

Mr. James Lane Allen, 460 West End Avenue. 

Miss Viola Allen, 167 West 81st Street. 

Mr. Winthrop Ames, 270 Park Avenue. 

Miss Margaret Anglin, 33 West 42nd Street. 

Miss Gertrude Atherton, 547 West 145th Street. 

Mr. John Kendrick Bangs, 145 East 63rd Street. 

Mr. Bernard Baruch, 135 West 79th Street. 

Mr. Balhngton Booth, 34 West 28th Street. 

Mr. Gutzon Borgium, 166 East 3Sth Street. 

Mr. Wilham J. Burns, 233 Broadway. 

Mr. Arthur Brisbane, 112 East 61st Street. 

Mr. William A. Clark, 13 West 102nd Street. 

Miss Rose Coughlan, 253 West 42nd Street. 

Mr. Timothy Cole, 507 West End Avenue. 

Mr. Kenyon Cox, 134 East 67th Street. 

Ml-. Palmer Cox, 145 East 70th Street. 

Miss Henrietta Crosman, 186 West 93rd Street. 

Miss Rachel Crothers, 138 East 40th Street. 

Mr. Alan Dale, 257 West 128th Street. 

Mr. Walter Damrosch, 146 East 61st Street. 

Mr. Robert W. De Forest, 7 Washington Square, N. 

Mr. Richard Delafield, 40 West 46th Street. 

Miss Elsie de Wolfe, 2 West 47st Street. 

Mr. Dwight Elmendorf, 201 East 68th Street. 

Miss Maxine Elhott, 109 West 39th Street. 

Mr. William Faversham, 187 West 69th Street. 

Miss Minnie Maddern Fiske, 135 West 69th Street. 

Mr. Simeon Ford, 43 West 74th Street. 

Mr. Daniel Chester French, 12 West 8th Street. 

Mr, Daniel Frohman, 145 West 79th Street. 

Mr. Elbert H. Gary, 856 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. Giulius Gatti-Casazza, 832 Riverside Drive. 

Miss Grace George, 137 West 48th Street. 

Mr. Cass Gilbert, 42 East 64th Street. 

Mr. Walker Whiteside, Hastings, N. Y. 

Mr. Montague Glass. 376 West 78th Street. 

Col. Edward H. Green, 215 West 8Sth Street. 

Miss Louise Closser Hale, 27 Washington Square, N. 

Mr. Will N. Harben, 145 East 63rd Street. 

Miss Frances Burton Harrison, 653 West End Avenue. 

Mr. George Harvey, 171 Madison Avenue. 

Mr. Al. Hayman, 1430 Broadway. 

Mr. Oliver Herford. 167 West 74th Street. 

Mr. Peter Cooper Hewitt, 18 East 33rd Street. 

Mr. Robert Hilliard. 176 East 61st Street. 

Mr. Herbert C. Hoover, 173 East 81st Street. 

Mr. Walker D, Hines. 122 East 70th Street. 

Mr. Wallace Irwin, 183 West 93rd Street. 

Mr. William Travers Jerome, 103 East 84th Street. 

Mr. .Heywood Broun, 195 Claremont Avenue. 

MF'-Charles Rann Kennedy, 156 East 38th Street. 

352 



Mr. George F. Kunz, 601 West 110th Street. 

Mr. Thomas W. Lamont, 49 East 65th Street. 

Mr. Isaac V. Marcosson, 18 West 25th Street. 

Miss Edith Wynne Matthison, 734 Riverside Drive. 

Mr. James S. Metcalf, 2 West 67th Street. 

Mr. Henry Miller, 50 West 112th Street. 

Mr. Francis D. Millet, 146 East 73rd Street. 

Mr. Cleveland Moffett, 621 West End Avenue. 

Mr. Henry Morg-ehthau, 30 West 72nd Street. 

Mr. Joseph Pennell, 132 East 32nd Street. 

Mr. Michael I. Pupin, 1 West 72nd Street. 

Mr. Burr Mcintosh, 102 West 42nd Street. 

Franklin P. Adams ("F. P. A."), 6]2 West 112th Street. 

Mr. Philip D. Armour, 1067 Fifth Avenue. 

Mrs. Sara Cooper Hewitt. 144 East 39th Street. 

Mr. Paul Dana, 1 Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. Lispenard Stewart, 6 Fifth Avenue. 

Miss Kitty Cheatham, 274 Madison Avenue. 

Miss Norma Tallmadge, 318 East 48th Street. 

Miss Marguerite Clark. 311 West 28th Street. 

Miss Clara Kimball Young, 33 West 42nd Street. 

Mrs. Marv Pobej'ts Rinehart. 823 Riverside Drive. 

Miss Ethel Barrymore. 167 West 85th Street. 

Mr. Arthur Williams, Union League Club. 

Fifth Avenue Section 

Mrs. John Jacob Astor No. 840 

Mr. Edwin Gould " 936 

Mr. Francis Burton Harrison " 876 

Rev. Alfred Duane Pell " 929 

Mr. William Rockefeller " 689 

Mr. Thos. F. Ryan " 858 

Mr. Jacob H. Schiff " 965 

Mrs. Finley J. Shepard (Miss Helen M. 

Gould) " 579 

Mr. B. N. Duke " 200 

Mrs. Marcus Daly " 225 

Mr. Anthony J. Drexel, Jr " 1051 

Mr. Fred'k S. Flower " 612 

Mr. Henry Clay Frick 5th Ave. cor. 70th St. 

Mr. Robert Goelet No. 647 

Mr. S. R. Guggenheim ? " 743 

Mr. Rob't L. Gerry " 816 

Mr. Wm. Guggenheim , " 833 

Judge E. H. Gary " 856 

Mr. Geo. J. Gould '] 857 

Mr. Adrian Iselin, Jr " 711 

Mr. Wm. E. Iselin \\ 745 

Mr. Philip Lewisohn " 923 

Mr. Mortimer L. Schiff " 932 

Mr. William Salomon " 1020 

Mr. Sam'l Untermyer " 675 

Gen. Cornehus Vanderbilt " 459 

Mr. Wm. K. Vanderbilt " 660 

Mrs. Wm. K. Vanderbilt, Jr " 666 

Mr. Harrv Payne Whitney " 870 

Mrs. Frank W. Woolworth ", 991 

Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont No. 477 Madison y 

353 



Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer 5th Ave. cor. 66th St. 

Mrs. E. H. Harriman 5th Ave. cor. 69th St. 

Mr. James Speyer No. 257 Madison Ave. 

Mrs. Andrew Carnegie 5th Ave. cor. yist St. 

Mr. James B. Clews Sth Ave. cor. S5th St. 

Mr. James B. Duke 5Lh Ave. cor. 78tii St. 

Mrs. Ogden Goelet 608 5th Ave. 

Mr. Elbridge T. Gerry 2 East Glyt St. 

Judge A. R. Lawrence 69 Washington Place 

Mr. Ogden Mills 2 East 69th St. 

Mrs. Herman Oelrichs 5th Ave. cor. 57th St. 

Mrs. Hamilton McK. Twombly 27 E. 55th St. 

Gen. Cornelius Vanderbilt 5th Ave. & 57th St. 

Senator William A. Clark 5th Ave. & 77th St. 

Mr. John D. Rockefeller 4 West 54th St. 

Mr. Wm. H. Vanderbilt 5th Ave., 53-54th Sts. 



WESTCHESTER-BILTMORE COUNTRY CLUB 

The newest, and what w^ill probably be the most pop- 
ular, nearby resort is the Westchester-Biltmore Country 
Club, under the direction of John McE. Bowman, presi- 
dent of the Pershing Square group of hotels in New 
York City. It is situated between the villages of Har- 
rison and Rye, in the most picturesque part of West- 
chester County. There are two 18-hole golf course;?, 
bridle path, i3olo field and a miniature lake for skating 
in the winter time. It is regarded as the most wonder- 
ful recreation center in the world. 



354 








OUR BIG MONEY INSTITUTIONS 

New York's Enormous Business as Reflected in its 
Bank Clearings^ Imports and Exports 

"DROADLY speaking, the size of any city's commerce 
is more or less indicated by the bank clearings pub- 
lished every week. We append the table as of August 
23, 1919, from the New York Evening Post. It fortu- 
nately gives the figures not only for New York, but for 
ten other leading cities, and the comparison of the figures 
is very interesting, 

1919. 

New York $3,618,214,375 

Chicago 509,696,896 

Philadelphia 361,456.100 

Boston 273,719,890 

Kansas City 220,500,000 

St. Louis 141,512,533 

San Francisco 125,000,000 

Pittsburgh 111,722,475 

Detroit 77,500,000 

Baltimore 74,294.351 

New Orleans 50,772,263 

An idea of the business done by the banks may be 
gained from a study of the standing of the seven largest. 

355 



Compare these with similar figures published in your 

own town of your local banks and you get a better idea 

of New York's importance in the financial world. These 

figures are also from the official statement of May 10, 

\919. 

Net 
Net demand 

Capital. Profits. deposits. 

National City Bank $25,000,000 $54,132,000 $669,870,000 

Chemical National Bank 3,000,000 9,578,700 59,844,000 

Atlantic National Bank 1,000,000 958,200 15,406,000 

Nat. Butchers & Drovers Bk. . 300,000 109,500 3,992,000 

American Exch. Nat. Bank... 5,000,000 6,167,200 88,735,000 

National Bank of Commerce.. 25,000,000 25,651,800 271,986,000 

Pacific Bank 500,000 1,134,800 17,800,000 

Chatham & Phenix Nat. Bank 3,500,000 2,822,400 90,697,000 

Hanover National Bank 3,000,000 17,363,900 126,668,000 

Citizens National Bank 2,550,000 3,286,300 36,238,000 

Metropolitan Bank 2,000,000 2,404,600 31,363,000 

Corn Exchani?e Bank 4.200,000 8,290,700 135,224,000 

Importers & Traders Nat. Bk. 1,500,000 8,163,800 25,424.000 

National Park Bank 5,000,000 19,439,300 168,186,000 

East River National Bank.... 1,000,000 626,000 8,501,000 

Second National Bank 1,000,000 4,066,500 17,038,000 

First National Bank 10,000,000 31,297,500 146,757,000 

Irving National Bank 4,500,000 6,112,000 126,352,000 

N. Y. County Nat. Bank 1,000,000 421,800 12,135,000 

Continental Bank 1,000,000 642,200 6,257,000 

Chase National Bank 10,000,000 16,870,700 275,633,000 

Fifth Avenue Bank 200,000 2,301,400 20,176,000 

Commercial Exchange Bank.. 200,000 858,100 7,578,000 

Commonwealth Bank 400,000 762,000 8,542,000 

Lincoln National Bank 1,000,000 2,067.000 18,604,000 

Garfield National Bank 1,000,000 1,342,000 12,871,000 

Fifth National Bank 250,000 397,600 7,753,000 

Seaboard National Bank 1,000,000 3,782,400 47,076,000 

Liberty National Bank 3,000,000 4,704,900 55,183,000 

Coal and Iron Nat. Bank 1.500.000 1,333,600 12,781,000 

Union Exchange I, at. Bank... 1,000,000 1,271,200 18,329,000 

Brooklyn Trust Co 1,500,000 2,289,800 28,498,000 

Bankers Trus' Co 15,000.000 17,361,200 231,923,000 

U. S. Mortgage & Trust Co.. 2.000,000 4.551,000 53,311,000 

Guaranty Trust Co 25,000,000 28,525,700 481.915,000 

New York's part in the five Liberty Loans is equally 
interesting. The results were as follows: 

Quota Subscribed Subscribers Allotment 

First $ 600,000,000 $1,186,788,400 985,150 $ 617,831,650 

Second 900,000,000 1,550.453.450 2.182,017 1,164.366.950 

Third 900.000.000 1,115.243,650 3.043.123 1,115,243.650 

Fourth 1,800,000,000 2,044,931,750 3,004,101 2.044,931,780 

Fifth 1.350,000,000 1,875,000,000 3,000,000 1,850,000,000 

3.56 



The imports and exports figures are also of interest. 
In 1918 the 

Imports were 1,251,790,373 

Exports were 2,616,850,680 

Total , 3,863,641,053 

In the first four months of 1919 the Treasury Depart- 
ment writes me no less than 4^,379 vessels entered and 
cleared the Port of New York. The figures for export 
and import for 1919 so far available indicated a vast 
increase over the huge aniount reported for last year. 
The figures before the war, 1913 and 1914, were a good 
deal less than half the present returns. 

Vast additional dock space on Staten Island has re- 
cently been provided to meet this increased foreign 
business. The English ocean liners are also erecting 
special large new office buildings in lower Broadway on 
a scale that gives some idea of the immense business 
which they expect to do when they finally strike their 
stride. The huge buildings formerly occupied by the 
North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-American went 
out of existence, coincident with the suicide of their 
principal creator, Albert Ballin. 

Vast as the business of New York has been with for- 
eign countries in the past, it bids fair to totally eclipse 
it in the near future. 



Some Valuable New York Buildings. 



Name 



Equitable Building 

Mutual Life 

Woolworth 

New York Life 

Bankers Trust Co. . . 
Hanover Nat. Bank. 
American Surety Co. 
United "Bank Bldg. . . 
A.mer. Ex. Nat. Bank 
Guarantee Trust Co. 



Assessed Name Assessed 

Valuation Valuation 

$25,000,000 N. Y. Telephone $2,700,000 

9.500,000 Butterick 1,300,000 

9,500,000 Western Electric 1,770,000 

4,000.000 Havemeyer 1,080,000 

5,800,000 Met. Opera House.. 3,750,000 

4,000,000 Macv's Department 

2,425,000 Store 6,900,000 

2,375,000 Johnson Building... 3,300.000 

1,800,000 Herald 2,500,000 

3,000,000 Mills Hotel No. 3... 1,235,000 

357 



Nat. Bank of Com.. $2,500,000 
U. S. Realty and 

Improvement Co. . 6,000,000 

Western Union CO. . . 6,500,000 

City Investing Co... 6,625,000 

Singer Building 7,000,000 

N. Y. Tel. Co 5.060,000 

Havemever Bldg. .. 1,875,000 

Broadway Bldg. Co. 2,650,000 

Woodbridge Building 1,850.000 

Washington Bldg 2.000,000 

Bowling Green 3,250,000 

American Exp. Co.. 3,800,000 

Adams Expr. Co 6,500,000 

Empire Building 4,100,000 

Carroll Building 2.250,000 

Standard Oil 3,200,000 

Lower Broadwav 

Realtv Co 3,300,000 

Columbia Trust Co. 3,000,000 

Manhattan Life 3,700,000 

Stock Exchange 5,200,000 

Commercial Cable 

Building 2,650,000 

Produce Exchange.. 3,750.000 

Mills 4,150,000 

Morgan Building 5,100,000 

Trust Companv of 

America 2,325,000 

American Mutual In- 
surance Co 2,850,000 

National City Bank. 5,500,000 

Bank of Manhattan. 2,700,000 
Mechanics and 

Metals Nat. Bank. 2,800,000 
United States Exp. 

Company 2,700,000 



Saks and Company. $3,070,000 
Gimble Brothers De- 
partment Store . . 6,630,000 
Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Terminal 14.830.000 

Printing Crafts Bldg. 2,700,000 
National Cloak and 

Suit Company 2,300,000 

Knickerbocker Hotel 3,700,000 

Long Acre Bldg 2,375,000 

Fitzgerald Building. 2,100,000 

Claridge Hotel 2,270,000 

New York Theatre. 2,550,000 

Putman Building... 2,560,000 

Astor Hotel 3,875,000 

Strand Theatre 2,360,000 

The Belnord Realty 

Companv 3,500,000 

John J. Astor 2,400,000 

W. W. Astor 1,090,000 

Rogers Peet Co 2,800,000 

Hecksher Building.. 2,100,000 

The Aeolian Co 2,275,000 

Stern Brothers 6,000,000 

Harvard Club 1,250,000 

Hippodrome 2,250,000 

Plaza Hotel 8,100,000 

Biltmore Hotel 8,700,000 

Belmont Hotel 4,450,000 

Manhattan Hotel... 3,750,000 

St. Regis Hotel 2,700,000 

Gotham Hotel 2,700,000 

Oceanic Investing 

Company 2,625,000 

Postal Life Building 2,275,000 

Andrew Carnegie... 2,425,000 
Electric Light and 

Power Co 5,910,000 



A Curious Book About Old New York. 
The Recent Revival of "Valentine's Manual. 



Although the New Yorker as a rule is apparently not 
particularly interested in the history of his city, that is 
to a large extent merely his habitual indifference to mat- 
ters which he considers personal to himself. As a matter 
of fact, New York is the only city in any country which 
supports an annual publication devoted solely to the city's 
past. Nothing about the present appears in its pages, 
everything must have the sanctity of age before it is 

358 



admissible to its columns. As books go, it is also ex- 
pensive — $20.00 per copy, in leather — yet it enjoys 
considerable circulation. If any of my readers are of 
an enquiring turn of mind and would like to know how 
New York used to look, how its old social life was con- 
ducted, how it grew up — in short, all the items that would 
go to make a biography — let him look between the pages 
of Valentine's Manual of Old New York, edited by the 
author of this book, Henry Collins Brown. 

The history of this unique publication strikes its roots 
also deep into the past. It was first published by the 
city itself in 1816 — a hundred years ago — as the "City 
Hall Directory." In 1840 it was enlarged and changed 
its name to the "Manual of the Corporation of the City 
of New York." The city discontinued it in 1866 and it 
lay dormant for half a century. In 1916 a number of 
old New Yorkers revived the ancient publication, giving 
it the name of the old editor, Valentine, who conducted 
the former series for the city from 1840 to 1866 and 
gained much fame thereby. 

To those who have enjoyed this little Guide and have 
antiquarian tastes, we can with safety suggest the "Man- 
ual" as the next addition to their library. Any bookstore 
has it. 



359 




•l llllllll llMMi lllllll i llll l lll l ll i l i l l llllll l l l l l l lM 

m. '9. 



\'^ , |.^-^~«l-^j ^., 




4 






B o 




Ihe Oe Witt I'luiton, first locomotive 



INTERESTING DETAILS « 
ABOUT THE GREAT CITY 

'X^HREE and one-half million people travel every day 
-*- in the subways and elevated railways, and over one 
and one-half million in the surface cars. 

A passenger train arrives every 52 seconds. 

There is a wedding every 13 minutes. 

Four new business firms start up every 42 minutes. 

A new building is erected every 51 minutes. 

350 new citizens come to make their homes every day. 

4 transient visitors arrive every second. 

There were 814,045 telephones in New York on July 
31, 1919; more than in Chicago, Boston and Buffalo 
combined; more than in all the states south of Mason 
and Dixon's line and west of the Mississippi. 

The telephone girls are the first to know it when New 
York gets nervous. Then the big centrals light up like 
Christmas trees. 

There are other things that show in the little signal 
lights. A shower keeps people off the streets and in- 
creases the 'phone traffic by about 100,000 calls, and 

361 



on the day the Lusitania was sunk the jump, in the 
Rector station alone, was from 71,526 to 92,055. A fire 
or an explosion may suddenly light almost every lamp 
in the nearby centrals, as the whole neighborhood de- 
mands information at once. 

More than 615,000,000 gallons of water are consumed 
daily. It comes from the Catskill Mountains. One of 
the deepest shafts of the Catskill Aqueduct is at the cor- 
ner of Clinton and South Streets, and another is at the 
crossing of Delancey and Eldridge. Each is as deep as 
the Woolworth Building is high. 

Each year this city adds enough people to make an 
Atlanta, a Hartford or a New Haven, and for each addi- 
/ed daily. It has been estimated that the increase in pop- 
1 ulation from the time the work on the first Catskill aque- 
Hional person another hundred gallons of water are need- 
duct was begun until its completion was greater than the 
entire population of Chicago. 

New York's first barber shop for women is open at the 
Hotel Majestic. 

While New York State gets along on $70,000,000 or 
$80,000,000 a year for expenses. New York City requires 
$300,000,000. Chicago, $50,000,000; Boston, $30,000,- 
000; Philadelphia, $46,000,000. 

A child is born every 6 minutes. 

30 deeds and 27 mortgages are filed for record every 
business hour of the day. 

Every 48 minutes a ship leaves the harbor. 

Every night $1,250,000 is spent in hotels and restaur- 
ants for dining and wining. 

An average of 21,000 persons pass daily through the 
corridors of the largest hotel. Over 25,000 through the 
largest office building. 

7,500 people are at work daily for the city in one 
building — the Municipal Building. 

362 



300^000 pass the busiest points along Broadway each 
day. 

More than 1,000,000 immigrants land every year. 

3,750,000 people live in tenements. 

105 babies out of every thousand die. 

1 00 gallons of water is supplied each individual daily. 

Street lighting costs $5,000,000 yearly. 

The public parks cover 7,223 acres. 

Land reclaimed by filling with street sweepings covers 
64 acres. 

It takes 1,800 drivers to collect city refuse. 

The public schools cost over $87,000,000 annually. 

The foreign commerce is nearly one-half of the entire 
country. 

Three million messages are sent and received by tele- 
phone daily. 

100 new telephones are added each day. 

Subways and elevated traffic increases 100,000,000 
yearly. 

More people living in its confines than in fourteen of 
our States and Territories. 

The record for being the greatest purchasing muni- 
cipality in the world, not excepting London. 

More than one-half the population of the State of 
New York. 

The majority of the banking power of the United 
States, which has two-thirds of the world's banking 
power. 

An annual population increase of more than 100,000, 
besides its own product of births. 

1,562 miles of surface, subway and elevated railways, 
operating 8,514 passenger coaches, carrying daily 4,849,- 
012 passengers on cash fares, and 419,779 on transfers. 

A density of population (in Manhattan) of 96,000 
per square mile, six times that of any other city in the 
United States. Chicago, the next largest city, has 10,- 
789 per square mile. 

363 




Some Simple Don'ts 



Don't ask a pedestrian where a certain street is. He 
is usually too busy to stop, and if polite enough to stop, 
won't know. No New Yorker knows anything about New 
York. Consult this Guide. 

Don't cross the street in the middle of a block. In 
Paris they arrest you for doing that, in New York they 
simply run you down. Use the corner crossings only. 
Traffic police guard important crossings. "Stop" and 
"Go" as they direct. 

Don't leave finger rings and personal jewelry on the 
wash stands of public dressing rooms while you go out- 
side to telephone. It is bad form, especially if you want 
to wear the hardware again. 

Don't buy the Woolworth Building, Brooklyn Bridge, 
the Metropolitan Tower, the City Hall or any prominent 
structure because a stranger happens to want to sell it 
to you for a few hundred dollars. Buy Thrift Stamps 
instead. 

The Gold Brick industry is still a flourishing business 
in New York. 

Don't hand your baggage to a porter outside Grand 
Central Terminal unless he wears a red hat. These out- 
siders are not allowed to pass the gate and you get stung 
for another quarter from the gate to the car. This is a 
species of petty imposition which the railroad company 
itself ought to suppress, but doesn't. 

364 



Don't travel with a dog. Bring somebody else's kid 
if you can't your own. Children are great company. 

Don't take the recommendation of strangers regarding 
hotels. Enquire of the Travellers Aid Society, whose 
representatives are in the stations. 

Don't get too friendly with plausible strangers. Bu- 
reaus of information are in every hotel, policemen are on 
every street corner, telephone books are handy and there 
is little excuse for the deplorable results that sometimes 
follow a departure from this advice. 

Don't gape at women smoking cigarettes in restaur- 
ants. They are harmless and respectable, notwithstand- 
ing and nevertheless. They are also "smart". 

Don't forget to tip. Tip early and tip often. This 
is where they raise the palms for Palm Beach. 

Don't block the sidewalk. New Yorkers will gather in 
crowds to see a young lady demonstrate a new razor in 
a shop window or a safe going up the side of a building. 
Ignore such gatherings ; show our ex-hicks that you come 
from a real town. 

Don't judge the importance of a man by the number of 
times he is "paged". That's old stuff! 

Don't telephone if you are in a hurry. Walk. It's 
quicker, though it used to be the other way 'round. 

Don't act, however, as if you were another Daniel in a 
Lion's Den, simply because we have pointed out a few 
obvious precautions. New York is just like your own 
home town, only bigger and the vast majority of its 
people are decent, likeable citizens. But there are also 
others. 



365 




End of the City at Inwood Heights. 

North from Fort George to Inwood Hill and Spuyten Duyvil Creek 
and Northern end of Manhattan Island. Ferry to Inter State Palisade 
Park at Dyckman Street. Dyckman House at 212th Street and Haw- 
thorne Avenue. Old Kings Bridge spanned the Harlem just beyond the 
Elevated. New Isham Park at 215th Street. Go down the road at 
extreme end of Inwood Hill to Cold Spring, see Indian Rock House 
and great Tulip Tree 6^ feet in diameter, possibly 300 years old, also 
place where Hudson landed with part of crew. 

We are now at the end of Manhattan Island on which is located the 

nIH Ciiv r,f ■Nr*>w Vr,»-lr tir^,„ ^r,^1^A +V, » "Tt^r-r^,,rrU ^f A^a r, Vi o tf -. r, " 




GENERAL INFORMATION 

Patronize legitimate shops and regular stores, 
of well-known^ reliable establishments follows: 



A list 



Re 



STAURANTS 



Alps Restaurant, 1022 Sixth Avenue. 

Archambault, 2678 Broadway. 

Bal-Tabarin, 1646 Broadway. 

Browne's Chop House, 1424 Broadway. 

Louis Bustonoby, Sixth Avenue and 40th Street. 

Cafe Boulevard, Broadway and 41st Street. 

Cafe des Beaux Arts, 80 West 40th Street. 

Campus Restaurant, 900 Columbus Avenue. 

Castle Inn Restaurant, 3360 Broadway. 

Childs Restaurants, Throughout City. 

Churchill's, Broadway and 49th Street. 

Delmonico's, Fifth Avenue and 44th Street. 

Drakes Restaurant, 119 West 42nd Street. 

Engrel's Chop House, 61 West 36th Street. 

Fifth Avenue Restaurant, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street. 

H. Gertner, 1446 Broadway. 

Gossler Bros., Inc., 900 Columbus Avenue. 

R. M. Haan & Co., 13 Park Row. 

Healy's Restaurant, 30 East 42nd Street. 

Jack's Restaurant, 761 Sixth Avenue. 

Keen's Engrlish Chop House. 107 West 44th Street. 

Lafaj'ette Restt^iirant, 9th Street and University Place. 

Lorber's Restaurant, 1420 BroadM^ay. 

Lusser Restaurant, 149 West 43rd Street. 

Mouquin's Restaurant, 454 Sixth Avenue. 

Palais Royal, 1590 Broadway. 

Pes WofRn^ton Coffee House. 11 East 44th Street. 

Rig-ETS Restaurant, 43 West 33rd Street. 

Rector's, 160O Broadway. 

Rog-ers, 801 Si^th Avenue. 

M. Strunsky. 34 West 35th Street. 

Wolpin's Restaurant, 1216 Broadway. 

Haberdashers 

Samuel Budd, 572 Fifth Avenue. 

John David, Broadway and 32nd Street. 

Herald Men's Shop, 1217 Broadway. 



Emanuel Kalish, 1243 Broadway. 

Kaskel & Kaskel, 535 Fifth Avenue. 

Nat Lewis, 1578 Broadway. 

Rollins. 1296 Broadway. 

Wallach Bros., Broadway and 29th Street, and Branches. 

Weber & Heilbroner, 1505 Broadway and Branches. 

General Outfitters 

Brill Bros., 44 East 14th Street, and Branches. 

Brokaw Bros., 1457 Broadway. 

Brooks Bros., 346 Madison Avenue. 

Browning King & Co., 1265 Broadway. 

Monroe Clothes Shops, 50 East 42nd Street, and Branches. 

Park Taylor, Inc., 1333 Broadway, and Branches. 

Rogers Peet Company, 842 Broadway, and Branches. 

Department Stores 

B. Altman & Co., Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. 
Bloomingdale Bros., Third Avenue and 59th Street. 
Gimbel Bros., Broadway and 33rd Street. 
James A. Hearn & Son, 20 West 14th Street. 
H. C. F. Koch & Co., 132 West 125th Street. 
Jas. McCreery & Co., 5 West 34th Street. 
R. H. Macy & Co., Broadway and 34th Street. 
Rothenberg & Co., 34 West 14th Street. 
Saks & Co., Broadway and 33rd Street. 
John Wanamaker, Broadway and 10th Street. 

Jewelers 

Black, Starr & PYost, Fifth Avenue and 48th Street. 

Robert S. Chapin, 634 Fifth Avenue. 

Darcy & Hayes, 366 Fifth Avenue. 

Dreicer & Co., 560 Fifth Avenue. 

Frederics, 547 Fifth Avenue. 

B. M. Gattle & Co., 630 Fifth Avenue. 

Hallmark Jewellers, 469 Fifth Avenue. 

Theodore A. Kohn & Sons, 321 Fifth Avenue. 

Marcus & Co., 544 Fifth Avenue. 

Reilly & Cheshire, 512 Fifth Avenue. 



368 



Principal Theatres and Amusement Places 

Audubon — Broadway & 165th St. 

Academy of Music — E. 14th St. & Irving PI. 

A I ham bra— 7th Ave., 126th St. 

American — Eighth Ave., 42nd St. 

Astor — Broadway and 45th St. 

Adman Hall— 29 W. 42nd. 

Belasco — 44th St., near Broadway. 

Berkeley Lyceum— 19 W. 44th St. 

Booth— 22 W. 45th. 

Broadway — Broadway, 41st St. 

Carnegie Lyceum — 57th St. & 7th Ave. 

Carnegie Music Hall— 57th St. & 7th Ave. 

Casino — Broadway, 39th St. 

Century — Eighth Ave. and 52d St. 

Circle^ — Broadway and 60th St. 

Cohan's — Broadway, 43d St. 

Collier's— 41st St., east of Broadway. 

Colonial— Broadway and 62d St. 

Comedy — 41st St. bet. Broadway and 6th Ave. 

Cort— 48th St., east of Broadway. 

Criterion — Broadway, 44th St. 

Daly's— Broadwav, 30th St. 

Eltlnge— 236 West 42d St. 

Empire — Broadway, near 40th St. 

Fifth Avenue — Broadway, near 2Sth St. 

Forty-eighth St. — 48th St., east of Broadway. 

Forty. fourth St.— 216 W. 44th St. 

Fulton — W. 46th St., near Broadway. 

Gaiety— 46th St. and Broadway. 

Garden — Madison Ave., 27th St. 

Garrick — 35th St., near 6th Ave. 

Globe— Broadway, 46th St. 

Grand Central Palace — Lexington Ave., 46th St. 

Grand Opera House— 23d St., 8th Ave. 

Hackett— West 42d St. 

Harris— West 42d St. 

Herald Square — Broadway, 35th St. 

Hippodrome — Sixth Ave. and 43d St. 

Hudson— W. 44th St. 

Irving Place — Irving Place. 

Keith's— 14th St., near Broadway. 

Knickerbocker — Broadway, at 3Sth St. 

Lenox Lyceum — E. 59th St. 

Lexington Opera House — Lexington Ave., 58th St. 

Liberty— West 42d St. 

Lincoln Square — 1947 Broadway. 

Little — 44th St., west of Broadway. 

Longacre — 4Sth St., west of Broadway. 

Lyceum — 45th St., near Broadway 

Lyric — 43d St., near 7th Ave. 

Madison Square Garden — Madison Ave., 26th St. 

Majestic — 59th St. and Broadway. 

Manhattan— West 34th St. 

Maxine Elliott's — 39th St., near Broadway. 

Metropolis— E. 142d St. and Third Ave. 

Metropolitan Opera House — Broadway, 40th St. 

369 



Murray Hill— Lexington Ave., 42d St. 

New Amsterdam — 42nd, 7th Ave, 

New York— Broadway, 44th St. 

Palace — Broadway, 47th St. 

Punch and Judy— 44th St., east of 7th Ave. 

Playhouse— 48th St., east of Broadway. 

Princess — 29th St. and Broadway. 

Proctor's— (1) 23d St. (2) 58th St. (3) Broadway 

and 28th St. (4) E. 125th St. 
Rialto— 42nd and 7th Ave. 
R I vo 11— Broadway and 49th St. 
Savoy — 34th St. and Broadway. 
Schubert— 225 W. 44th St. 
Strand— Broadway and 48th St. 
Stuyvesant— West 44th St. 

Thirty-ninth Street— 39th St., near Broadway. 
Victoria— Broadway and 42d St 
Vitagraph— Broadway and 43d St. 
Wallick's— Broadway, 30th St. 
Weber's— Broadway, 29th St. 
West End— 12.5th St., Sth Ave. 
Winter Garden— 50th St. and Broadway. 

Moving- Picture Shows are scattered throughout 
the city in every section, and range in price from 
5 cents to 25 cents, though special attractions are 
as high as $2.00. 



370 



The Man Who Entertains You in New York — - 

John McE. Bowman^ Who Runs Six of the Big 

New York Hotels. 

Elsewhere in these pages we have made reference to 
the fact that the great hotels of New York are themselves 
an object of keen interest to the tourist. Here gather 
prominent men and women from all parts of civilization. 
It is a kaleidoscopic view of the world at large; the 
movement, life and gaiety of things, form a never-ending 
source of attraction. 

The modern hotel of the first class is so vastly su- 
perior to anything even dreamed of in the past that no 
comparison can be made. The famous Pershing Square 
group is perhaps the most conspicuous example of the 
new school in public entertaining and is so readily ac- 
cepted as the highest type of the new era that a sketch 
of the young man resiDonsible for this wonderful de- 
velopment is of more than passing interest. We no 
longer speak of the head of such a vast enterprise as 
a hotel man. He is the executive of a huge business 
organization, employing millions of capital and with a 
working force exceeding ten thousand persons. The 
office requires ability of so many different kinds as to 
make its holder distinguished even among the many 
Captains of Industry and Finance in a great city like 
New York. 

One of the main differences between the old and the 
new type of big hotel executive is that the modern host 
lias practically ceased to be a host at all. 

Unlike the late George C. Boldt, whose personality 
was the corner stone of the Waldorf-Astoria, and who 
^vas a familiar figure in the lobby, John McE. Bowman 
takes extreme measures to avoid the public rooms of any 
of his hotels. Bowman operates six great New York 
hotels — the Biltmore, the Commodore, the Manhattan, 

.■^71 



the Belmont^ the Murray Hill, and the Ansonia. He 
also controls two great resort hotels, the Belleview, at 
Belleair, Florida, and the Griswold, at New London, Con- 
necticut, and the Westchester-Biltmore Country Club 
at Rye, N. Y. His recent jDurchase of the Sevilla, at 
Havana, is his first excursion into foreign fields but Is 
not likely to be his last. Though only forty-three years 
old, his is probably the most responsible hotel job in 
the world. 

You might stay at the Hotel Biltmore in New York 
for a year without ever catching a glimpse of Bowman. 
Rarely does he ever set foot in the lobby. If he wishes 
to go from his office, on a balcony floor of the hotel, to 
a room opposite, he is likely to take an elevator to the 
basement, and then come up again on the other side, like 
a prairie dog. 

Indeed you might have difficulty in seeing Bowman 
even if you went to his office; for he finds that, with six 
New York hotels to manage, it is essential to practice 
rigid conservation of his time, and frequently he is in- 
accessible except by appointment. 

This is not because Bowman doesn't enjoy meeting 
people — for at heart he is a rollicking, sociable boy — 
but because he believes that he can make the seven 
thousand guests in his hotels more comfortable by devot- 
ing his energies to work of a purely executive sort. 
Bowman knows by experience that a journey of only 
one hundred feet through the Biltmore lobby requires 
at least half an hour ! Somebody among the guests recog- 
nizes him as the manager and stops him to ask a question. 
By the time he has finished with that guest, another one 
is waiting for him with other questions or requests. And 
all the while Bowman has something in his own mind 
that he is extremely anxious to dispose of. 

Consequently, because he is in a hurry to be on his 
way, he is not at the moment quite the ideal person to 



extend hospitality and to pat on the back the guest 
within his doors. Moreover, the interruption interferes 
with his train of thought and makes him less competent 
for the moment to handle the executive task on which 
he has set out. 

Bowman, therefore, delegates the genial host function 
to assistant managers, whom he pays well for being cour- 
teous talkers, good hand-shakers, and discreet arbiters 
of guests' minor difficulties. 

"They handle the guests far better than I can," ex- 
plains Bowman, "for they have nothing else on their 
minds. In order to have plenty of patience and poise 
in liandling the public, a man should be free from finan- 
cial and organization worries. For that reason, I aim 
to see to it that our assistant managers, who have most 
of the actual handling of the public, do not have to 
concern themselves about anything else." 

There you have the theory on which the directing 
head of this biggest hotel enterprise remains personally 
an invisible force in the background. 

Because he is not often seen about the premises, 
a guest might receive the impression that Bowman is not 
on the job. And that brings us to another Bowman 
theory — that he can, in a sense, be on the job more by 
being on it less. 

That sounds paradoxical, but here is the idea: He 
believes in a short, intensive day for an executive, rather 
than a long, dilly-dallying day. Sometimes Bowman 
works six or seven hours and then dashes up to his farm 
in Westchester County until the next morning. And he 
believes he accomplishes vastly more by this system 
than if he were at his desk, with precision and regularity, 
the same number of hours each day. 

He gets a tremendous amount of work done, because, 
by virtue of his frequent hours of recreation, he comes 

Z7Z 



to his work fresh, full of enthusiasm and physical en- 
ergy. He eats and sleeps when he feels most like it, 
and he works somewhat the same way. That is, when 
he feels particularly energetic he may work without 
cessation from early morn until late at night, without 
even going out for a meal. But he doesn't plan to do 
that every day, for he does not regard his job as an 
endurance test. 

Moreover, Bowman finds that much of the really im- 
portant work of an executive can be done better away 
from one's office than in it. He can think out a problem 
better, oftentimes, while chopping down a tree at his 
farm than while seated at his desk. 

Bowman, of course, has a lot of energy and initiative 
and a knack at making capital of previous experience, 
else his career would not be such a record of proceeding, 
mainly upward. Only a comparatively few years ago 
he was connected with Durland's Riding Academy. His 
love for horses still clings to him, and with Mr. Vander- 
bilt he now runs the Annual Horse Show in New York, 
but the story of his being a truck man is unfortunately 
not true. It made a picturesque background. 

Bowman's first hotel job was at a little resort in the 
Adirondacks, when he was only nineteen years old. Be- 
cause of the short season there, he desired a permanent 
place at some good hotel in New York City. A wealthy 
man gave him a letter of introduction to the manager 
of what was then one of the best hotels in New York, 
a place that Bowman had thought a suitable field for his 
talents after seeing a picture of it in a little booklet. 

With this letter of introduction in his pocket, and the 
assurance of his acquaintance that it would indubitably 
land him some kind of position in the big hotel. Bowman 
burned his bridges behind him and came to New York 
to make his fortune. He mailed the letter of introduc- 
tion to the hotel manager, and requested permission to 

374 



call. But he got no response. He wrote again and 
asked for the return of his letter of introduction. Even 
then he got no reply, and he formed a strong opinion 
about the character of the man who had exhibited what 
seemed to him such gross and needless discourtesy. 

Years later Bowman became president and directing 
manager of the company that took over that same hotel, 
and his first official act was to discharge the manager 
who had failed to answer his letter. He did not dis- 
charge him to" vent personal spleen, but because he 
thought the man lacked that sense of courtesy and con- 
sideration which should be among the qualifications of a 
successful manager. 

Having failed to get the hotel job he sought in New 
York, Bowman had to do whatever work he could find. 
Frequently he was obliged to be so economical that each 
meal was a genuine problem. He found that the food in 
the cheaper uptown restaurants was of such a light, 
frivolous nature that it failed to stick to his ribs. Con- 
sequently, it was not unusual for him to walk from up- 
town New York clear down to the lower end of the 
Bowery in order to find food that was both substantial 
and cheap. He has distinct recollections of the satis- 
fying qualities of the beef stew that was available at one 
place for the sum of ten cents. To-day Bowman is mak- 
ing capital of the knowledge he gained as to food values 
in those difficult days. 

Incidentally, right in this connection. Bowman thinks 
that there might be less complaint over the high cost of 
food if people made the same effort that he made, to 
locate good food at reasonable prices. 

"The truth is that, with a proper system of distribu- 
tion, high prices in hotels really ought to make for 
cheaper prices in the less pretentious places. I have in 
mind particularly the item of meats. The more the 
dealer can get for the choicest cuts of meat, the more 

375 



cheaplj^ he should be able to sell what is left. Hence 
high prices in hotels for the choicest cuts of meat should 
have a tendency to reduce the cost to the consumer of 
the slightly less desirable cuts, in the cheaper restau- 
rants. However, in practice it does not always work 
out in just that way.'* 

After he had knocked about New York in various 
jobs, Bowman was more convinced than ever that hotel 
work was the only line in which he could permanently 
be satisfied. He determined that he would work not 
only in a hotel, but in one particular hotel, which he had 
selected as a desirable place to learn the business on a 
high-grade basis. 

The hotel he had in mind was the Holland House, 
famous for its cuisine and for being the first modern 
hotel in the United States to adopt the European plan 
of serving only a la carte meals. Bowman did succeed in 
making the acquaintance of the proprietor of this estab- 
lishment, one Gustav Baumann, and agreed to be a bright 
young willing worker if Baumann would employ him. 
Later on, he became Baumann's secretary. Baumann 
headed a company that put up the Hotel Biltmore and 
Bowman was to be its manager. A few months after 
the hotel was ready for occupancy, Baumann died. In 
a short time Bowman had so thoroughly convinced the 
board of directors of his ability, that he not only was 
permanently retained as manager but was made president 
of the company. 

Then he branched out, and he has now bought four 
other hotels, besides building the new Hotel Commodore. 
Thus, Bowman, who only a few years ago came to New 
York to hunt a job, finds himself at the topmost place 
among hotel operators. He must satisfy the daily wants 
and whims not only of seven thousand guests but also of 
seven thousand employees — for in a big modern hotel 
there is, on the average, an employee for every guest. 

376 




OUR SISTER BOROUGHS 



The Boroughs of Brooklyn, Bronx^ Queens 
AND Richmond 

T^HIS is the second Borough in importance of the 
Boroughs that make up Greater New York, and is 
said now to slightly exceed Manhattan in the actual 
number of residents. It has certainly grown tremen- 
dously in the last year or two and has a larger physical 
area. It is essentially a city of homes. Most of its 
people have business in New York. It is connected by 
four bridges and three subway tunnels, to which more 
will soon be added. 

Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn was at one time a 
great mecca of tourists to New York. So much so, that 
Brooklyn was at one time described as "lying between 
Pleasure and the Grave." It is, nevertheless, one of the 
most beautiful Cities of the Dead in the world. Public 
taste has changed of late years and Greenwood has to a 
certain extent lost its attraction to visitors. Yet one will 
never regret an hour or two spent in this God's Acre. 
Many noted men and women are buried here, and the 
beauty of its monuments, its shaded paths, its atmosphere 
of profound peace, yields a restful sensation that is long 
remembered. If time permits, pay a visit to this old 



hallowed spot. It is something you will never regret. 
Brooklyn is as different from New York as day is from 
night. It thinks differently, lives differently, acts differ- 
ently. Marshall Wilder became rich through his famous 
bon-mot : that the subways were built so that a New York 
man could go to Brooklyn without being seen. It is a 
city of churches, as well as of homes, and has a strong 
religious life. It cannot seem to outgrow its village 
origin. It has, however, a rare intellectual life. 

People from abroad and our own people from other 
states speak of Brooklyn as a beautiful city. It often 
perplexes the Brooklynite to know what this terra 
means. Evidently it is not meant in the sense that a 
statue is beautiful or even a building, for there are only 
a few conspicuously fine statutes or buildings in the bor- 
ough. And yet it is evident to any one who has been 
in Brooklyn even for a short time that the description 
is true. There is something in the atmosphere that 
induces the kindly feeling, and perhaps this again is 
produced by the long streets and avenues of homes, for 
Brooklyn is preeminently the city of homes. Already 
the population numbers over two millions and the influx 
of people is growing greater with every new bridge or 
tunnel that is built. Happily there is an immense area 
yet to be filled up, land that is admirably suited for the 
building of homes and all within easy reach of business 
centers in Manhattan. 

Of the five boroughs of Greater New York, Brooklyn 
has distinctively the flavor of Art and Letters. The 
trend of the population is easily discerned in the large 
audiences that attend the lectures given almost every 
night during eight months of the year at the Brooklyn 
Institute and elsewhere. A Brooklyn audience, as has 
often been remarked, is discriminating and exacting. 
Perhaps no teacher or lecturer embodies the Brooklyn 
idea more distinctly than our late minister to Holland, 

378 



Henry Van Dyke, himself a Brooklyn man and a fine 
scholar. His unafFected manner, his extensive knowl- 
edge of literature and his mastery of the arts and subtle- 
ties of humor, represent in actual life the ideals of the 
Brooklyn mind. 

On the other hand, the utilitarian side has its votaries, 
as is shown in the crowded halls of the various institu- 
tions offering technical instruction, with also such ad- 
vantages for social recreation as have always character- 
ized tiiis city. Even without the attractions of splendid 
theatres and great amusement places, Brooklj'^n contrives 
to get along in these matters perhaps even better than 
Tier sister borough of Manhattan. As for the drama, 
Brooklyn has several dramatic societies which, although 
entirely composed of amateurs, rival some of New York's 
best companies and surely furnish amusement and recre- 
ation far excelling them. These societies have produced 
some of the best talent in the histronic art. Ada Rehan, 
who lived in Brooklyn with her mother a great part of 
her life, was wont to say of them that they were the 
nurseries of New York's dramatic talent. Music also has 
its votaries, and the many societies for the cultivation 
of this art contribute greatly to the pleasure of living 
in Brooklyn. An orchestra composed entirely of women 
and led by a woman gives three concerts every year 
-during the season, and its performances can scarcely 
he rivalled anywhere. As an art center Brooklyn has 
achieved distinction and contributed her full share of 
glory to the country. There are a number of art schools 
and art clubs in Brooklyn. In one of these clubs, the 
Two Hour Sketch Club, made up partly of earnest young 
artists and partly of ambitious amateurs, one of Amer- 
ica's most virile and famous artists. Frederic Remington, 
was a member during a part of his student days. He 
is remembered today by those of his associates who re- 
Tuain for his strong, daring and progressive methods, 

380 



and loved for his warm, generous and manly spirit. 

The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences is to be 
credited with much of the impetus that is given to the 
intellectual life of the city and it undoubtedly supplies 
also that higher order of amusement which takes the 
place here of the mammoth movie palaces of other large 
cities. The Museum is on a par with the finest in New 
York and the building, which is beautifully situated in 
Institute Park, on Eastern Parkway, one of Brooklyn's 
finest boulevards, will vie in size and beauty with any 
that has been erected for this purpose anywhere. The 
famous collection of paintings by Tissot, depicting the 
life of Christ, and the water color paintings by Sargent 
are alone well worth a visit, but there are many other 
collections of rare and valuable objects to be seen. 

Not far from the Museum is the plaza, on which stands 
the magnificent arch, crowned with the work of Amer- 
ica's greatest sculptor, MacMonnies, and here also is 
Park Slope, a residential section containing many of the 
finest homes in Brooklyn. Directly through Prospect 
Park from the plaza is the fair and enticing suburb of 
Flatbush, which has been frequently spoken of as the 
most beautiful suburb of any in the United States, ex- 
celling the famous suburbs of old Boston. Perhaps the 
only thing to criticise is its newness, many of the fine 
old Dutch houses having disappeared. The America 
of today, with its merchant princes and its palatial 
homes, is quite in evidence here, but not, however, to 
the exclusion of the more modest cottages and dwelliftgs 
of that class which has made Brooklyn the city of homes. 
A walk along Ocean Avenue is a delight and may be 
continued all the way to the ocean. One ©f the old 
landmarks of Flatbush which still remains and is cher- 
ished is the old Erasmus Hall, a school of "ye olden 
time." It is enclosed now by the great buildings of 
the Erasmus Hall High School, a seat of learning which 

381 



ranks perhaps first among New York's public schools. 
The great, massive tower on the principal building makes 
one think of the old college towns of Europe. Oppo- 
site Erasmus is the Dutch Reformed Church, the oldest 
on Long Island. 

Brooklyn is well provided with colleges and schools — 
Adelphi College is an old Brooklyn institution, and 
Brooklyn College, the center of Catholic instruction for 
the city, is the most recent. Pratt Institute and the 
Arbuckle Institute are mainly for instruction in tech- 
nical subjects and have a very large attendance of both 
sexes. The Polytechnic is for young men and is a pre- 
paratory school. There are several other seminaries, 
academies and private schools. On the grounds of the 
Arbuckle Institution is a fine statute of Henry Ward 
Beecher as he appeared on the platform. 

To the query, where is Brooklyn's business district, 
the answer might well be given there is not any, for 
there is no stock exchange, no financial district, no curb 
market, no produce, no cotton, or wool exchange, no 
newspaper row and no great railway centers. There is, 
however, a fine shopping district with several establish- 
ments rivalling the best in Manhattan. From Flatbush 
Avenue to the Borough Hall on Fulton Street there is 
8 succession of fine department stores, and the sidewalks 
in the neighborhood are crowded from morn till night 
with a continuous stream of Brooklyn's fair daughters, 
giving a few moments of their precious time to the prac- 
tical affairs of life. 

Further on beyond the Borough Buildings is the old 
and aristocratic section, which still retains its old time 
air of exclusiveness, though fast undergoing great 
changes. Columbia Heights, at all times regarded the 
ideal residence quarter, is a bluff rising high above the 
sea level and overlooking the river and the bay. No 
finer site could be imagined for a residence and the 

382 



n^ti(; 



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